Tamers Sagas: Flux
by Narissa
Summary: Trapped in another world, Takato struggles to survive, find out where he is, and how he can get back home. But the world has secrets, and as usual, it isn't just his own life in his hands.
1. Prologue

Hey there, this here is a sequel to "Atlas".

-N

_--_

"No, sorry, I don't own Digimon."

- Everyone, including myself

_--_

_Oh God—_

When Takato felt the powerful blow to his stomach, he was certain he hadn't made it—that he hadn't escaped the collapsing underground structure. He even thought he was blinded—but only thought it for the panicked instant when he forgot he'd squeezed his eyes shut. He didn't dare open them, however, until the next blow hit him in his already-wounded leg. He instinctively wanted to shout at the pain, but was winded from the first hit. What he saw, though, was that he was falling, and his mind managed to register quite cogently that the falling would be over in less then a second.

_Shi—_

Takato _did_ manage to let out an 'oof' when he landed, immediately followed by the landing of two relatively thick branches he realized he just fell through. Just his luck, he supposed. Actually, the ground he landed on was grass, for which he _was_ grateful.

By the time her hit the ground, he barely remembered what was going on. It took him a few seconds to piece together what happened, but he soon did.

_Who the hell would make a portal up there?_

He ignored the fact that he knew quite well who had opened the portal. Granted, he had little idea what he was doing, and was quite comfortable placing the blame with the portal generator's owner, instead. The seconds—hell, the whole damn day leading up to his present sitquation had been hectic—he really wished he hadn't been so disoriented that he'd been able to identify that he was falling a little sooner.

This whole time, Takato hadn't lifted his head from the ground. The most he'd managed was to roll it to one side so that he could continue breathing—which, at the time, he almost considered not doing for the amount of effort it required. He found himself staring at a forest. The trees looked peculiar, the branches bending at odd angles down then up.

_Digital World?_

Takato hurt everywhere, and he was tired. But he knew that that wasn't a very reassuring combination of feelings, and knew enough to know that he had to stay awake. He tried moving his right arm. With considerable concentration he managed to notice his fingers were moving.

_Good sign._

He lay there for what felt like hours—but was probably minutes—gathering his strength. When he felt he could, Takato pushed himself up off the ground. It felt like he was doing a push-up with a small family standing on his back, but he gritted his teeth and pushed through it.

Takato realized when he raised his chest from the ground, however, that he simply didn't have the strength to stay that way. But he knew he couldn't just lie there. He had to get back home. Back to his friends. Back to Jeri.

Upon the thought, Takato felt he had the energy. He pushed himself into a sitting position, and couldn't hold back the scream when the weight of his body clashed with his obviously broken leg. He felt his eyes instinctively well up with tears at the sudden stab of pain. He gritted his teeth and pushed himself backwards, as his leg dragged along the ground reluctantly. He eventually found his back against a tree.

Takato had been hurt in the digital world before, but the pain had never been this real. The notion that something wasn't right was the last thing he remembered before he passed out.

--

Glad to have gotten that out of the way. I've got three characters to introduce, and I want to do it slowly so they're at least a little memorable. At least Takato's alive. Hurray!

-N


	2. Lost and Found

--

"A truth that's told with bad intent, Beats all the lies you can invent."

- William Blake

--

"So the portal opened up in the _air_?" he asked, dumbfounded.

Takato winced as he recalled. "Yeah. That one uh…" he stammered before he grinned. "That sucked."

"Sounds like." His friend murmured. A moment passed. "Takato?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you survive?"

Takato stopped smiling at the question as he seemed to think very deeply.

--

Takato didn't usually remember his dreams, but the one he had then he remembered quite vividly. The reason he remembered it was because it has all really happened. A scientist had turned a man into a monster with a virus. The monster had hunted its daughter, a sixteen year old Rika Nonaka. But the monster doesn't catch her: he instead infects the seventeen year old boy, Ryo Akiyama who was protecting her. Takato seeks to aid Ryo, but some people disagreed in the value of the action. A heated debate leaves Jeri Kato, Takato's long-time friend, with a bullet in her stomach, comatose. Takato wanted to stay by her side until she woke up, but he didn't have the time, and he went after Ryo, as Rika had. He finds and saves him before the facility in which he was held collapsed. Takato had stayed behind to open the doors for Rika and Ryo to escape, and by the time it had been done, his exit had been cut off. Takato found a computer through which he could open a portal to the digital world, and he did.

Takato even knew he was dreaming as it happened. He wasn't sure how to explain it, but the helplessness he felt in it, knowing what was going to happen, was so intensified. He wasn't even sure he was done dreaming when he finally woke up.

He jolted upright, looking carefully at his surroundings. He was in a poorly decorated building. The floors appeared to be stone, and he couldn't identify what the walls were made of, though they weren't covered in anything. There was a grey blanket hanging over what he assumed to be the door. He was sitting in a small bed, probably big enough for two people, and he had a green blanket covering him. He pulled the blanket back to look at the wound in his leg.

_Too good to be true?_

The hole was still in his jeans, but there was no new blood. And it didn't hurt. He hopefully turned to put his leg on the floor. He slowly applied his weight to it, wincing out of instinct rather than pain. He sighed noticeably when he realized he was okay. He almost didn't notice the voices coming from outside.

"I still don't understand why you brought him here." The voice belonged to a girl, probably in her teens. "You're wasting your time."

_Me?_

"We've been over this." a boy answered. He too sounded like a teenager.

"How much more time are you going to waste trying to help him? He's not getting better." the girl was getting more irritated.

_So this is the guy that saved me._

The boy didn't answer, but instead offered a question back to her. "What are you so afraid of? He might be able to help us."

_Help with what?_

Takato headed for the door.

"Bull!" she snapped, causing Takato to stop instinctively. "What you're doing here—this guy—he isn't going to change anything for the better."

"Aren't you even a little curious to how he got here? Where he came from?"

"You're an idiot, Cronus."

_Cronus. The guy's name is Cronus._

Takato knew the voices had been coming from very close, but he hadn't realized from just _how_ close. As he stepped through the curtain, his foot touched what turned out to be the foot of the girl, which earned him a squeak and an elbow to the forehead. He nearly dropped, but the boy steadied him.

Things were a little spinny for a few moments after, but Takato was still able to assign faces to the people he had been eavesdropping on. Cronus looked to be a few inches shorter than Takato, had short, dark blonde hair, and light brown eyes. He was dressed in a green shirt, a brown jacket, and some dirty blue jeans.

The girl who had given Takato what was sure to be a bruise was noticeably shorter than Cronus, had light brown hair put up, green eyes, a black t-shirt, jeans, and would be found really cute by Takato had she not just caused him an immense amount of pain. She snickered at her actions and turned to leave.

"Aren't you even going to apologize?" Cronus asked indignantly.

"Nope." She replied firmly as she left.

_Geez._

Takato climbed to his feet, staring resentfully at the girl as she walked away.

"I'm sorry for her." Cronus said. "Are you alright?"

"I've had worse." Takato said, rubbing his forehead.

"You're Takato, huh?" Cronus asked.

_How the hell's—_

The look Takato had shot him must have been indication enough.

"I looked through your wallet." He said, a little embarrassed. "Sorry. You were really out."

"It's alright." Takato said, not really caring, but still rubbing his forehead. "How long was I unconscious?"

"At least three weeks."

_Goddamnit._

Cronus went on. "You were found out there," he indicated the forest behind the house.

"And you're the one who saved me, huh?"

"I guess you could say that." The boy answered sheepishly.

"And you looked out for me while I was out?"

"Yeah…"

"Thank you." He said sincerely.

"I'm Cronus."

"Yeah, I overheard." Now it was Takato's turn to be embarrassed.

"Are you well enough to walk?" Cronus asked suddenly.

"Yeah, through no work of my own."

"Alright, there's someone you should meet." Cronus headed down a path adjacent to the one the girl had left on, indicating for Takato to follow him.

Takato was very confused. But none of his friends were around, not that he'd been able to seek help from them lately anyways. At least this Cronus seemed trustworthy, but Takato wasn't prepared to let his guard down. He still had no idea where he was. Cronus and the girl were human, and he was supposed to be in the digital world. He didn't think he was in danger, though. He'd heard Cronus say that he might be able to help them.

_Them?_

How many people lived where they were? Takato asked, but Cronus wouldn't give him an answer, he just asked him to wait a few minutes until they got to the person he wanted Takato to meet. Takato agreed to put his questions on hold.

The two walked by several houses that looked similar to the one Takato had found himself in. Colorless, and appearing to be made of something resembling logs. They soon came to a house that looked no different—at least to Takato—than any of the others, and Cronus pushed the blanket aside and walked in.

Takato followed him inside, and he heard another voice, belonging to a girl who was doing something at the counter facing away from the two.

"Cronus, I swear if you do not start knocking—" It was then the girl turned and saw that Takato was there.

"He's got some questions." Cronus said to her.

"Yes, I'd imagine so."

Cronus turned to leave, but before Takato could ask him where he was going, the girl was already talking.

"You're Takato, right? My name is Mala. It's nice to meet you." Takato turned to her. She seemed about the same age as him, maybe a year younger. She wore a simple yellow dress, had dark brown hair which was in a ponytail that went a little lower than her shoulders. She had a natural beauty to her.

"Yeah, nice to meet you too." Takato said hurriedly. "Where am I? What is this place?"

She frowned, and Takato was a little worried that he might have offended her, but not very much, as he wanted answers.

"So you don't remember anything?"

_What?_

"Since when?" Takato asked, confused.

"Since ever? Do you remember _anything_ at all before today?"

_She serious?_

"Well yeah, I remember things, why wouldn't I?"

"You do?" She asked, her eyes lighting up.

Takato was getting a little bit uncomfortable, but he nodded.

She began to laugh, loudly.

_This girl's crazy._

It wasn't until Takato took a step back that she realized he was so very confused.

"I'm sorry, it's—it's just that nobody else here remembers."

"What do you mean?"

"The village, here. Nobody but very few of us remember anything about life before living here."

"What? Why?"

"I don't know. But only I, Cronus, and now you, remember anything about life before here."

_She's serious._

Takato's mind was boggling. First he finds himself completely healed, no wounds—from the fall or from before: Great. Then he meets someone who seems to be a pretty cool guy: Also great. Now he finds out that there's a whole village full of amnesia-ridden people who may or may not require his help.

Takato finally worked up the courage to ask, now careless of whether or not it made him sound crazy. It couldn't make him sound any crazier than she did a few seconds ago. "Is this the digital world?"

"I don't know." She answered.

_Damnit. Where the hell am I?_

"Then where are we?" He asked cautiously.

"I don't know."

Takato raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"I mean, I don't know exactly _how_ I got here, not specifically, I mean. I remember I was supposed to be going somewhere, I just don't think it's here..."

"I'm sorry, but I'm really not following you." Takato said, trying to mask his frustration.

"This place kind of—plays with your memory."

Takato sighed again, causing Mala to speak apologetically. Takato really wished she stopped caring so much about which words she was using. "The people here used to remember. They have no idea they even forgot."

"What? How do you know that they forgot something?"

"Because there aren't people in the digital world." Hearing her say 'digital world' made Takato realize that she didn't seem surprised at all when he mentioned the term to her. She was like Takato. She must have thought she was going to the digital world, but wound up in this place. Wherever it was.

"So _are_ we in the digital world?" Takato asked, a little more annoyed with his not getting any answers.

Mala sighed. "I told you, I don't know. I've been here a year, and I haven't seen any digimon at all. But the people here—Takato, they're not normal."

--

More to come, please review.

-N


	3. Mala

Things are going to start picking up a little bit now.

I really hope you enjoy this, it should give some understanding of the new characters, and the setting.

Pleeeeeeease review?

-N

--

"There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief."

- Aeschylus

--

Takato's friend laughed. "Hell, I'd judge them for not being normal if we didn't happen to be so goddamn weird ourselves."

Takato smiled weakly, but he could tell that his friend noticed his discomfort.

"I strike a nerve?" the friend asked, evidently afraid of his potential guilt.

"No, it's just something else."

"Alright, so're you going to tell me what this girl was talking about?"

"It's Mala. And yes. But it's a whole lot easier to tell if you stop interrupting me."

--

"What do you mean they're not normal?" The brown-haired boy asked, his confusion obvious.

Mala sighed. She didn't even know how to _describe_ her confusion for this place. She realized that she just stopped thinking about it after she knew she wasn't going to get out. She'd been alone for so very long, and couldn't talk to anyone about life back in the real world. Mala _did_ believe that she was in the digital world then, and wanted more than anything to get home. Her mother would be worried sick.

_More likely idea is that they all think you're dead._

She frowned inwardly at her pessimism. She didn't need it.

--

"Mala, _no!_"

The fifteen year old gritted her teeth.

"Mom, I _have_ to. They're counting on me." She dropped the anger in her tone down for a moment, realizing that it wasn't helping the persuasion. "There's a lot more at stake here than just me."

Mala thought she had actually managed to persuade her mother. But when she was halfway out the door, she knew she hadn't.

"If you don't come back her now, don't you come back ever!"

The girl ignored her. She didn't have much of a choice. She was sad, sure; she loved her mother. But she had to go.

--

Mala suddenly snapped back to reality when she realized she needed to answer Takato's question. When she looked at his face, he looked impatient. "Did you notice anything odd about Cronus?"

"No, not really."

"He was with us a week before you came. Or rather, he found you. We have no idea how long you've been there. He's been with us for a month."

"Okay." Takato seemed annoyed. In truth, Mala was a little frustrated with him. She was trying to explain things to him—admittedly, she wasn't doing a good job, but he wasn't helping her out much. "So are you going to tell me why these people aren't normal?"

_Fine._

"Well, most of them wanted to leave you to die out there. And the ones that didn't want that wanted to kill you themselves."

Takato's eyes widened, and Mala was suddenly stricken with guilt. She really should have softened the blow a bit.

"Why didn't they?" he asked curiously.

"Let me explain from the beginning, okay? It'll all make sense. Well, most of it."

--

Mala ran down the streets of Shinjuku towards what everyone had been fearing. Hell, she herself was terrified, but found comfort in the object she held tightly in her right hand: an obscurely shaped object—black and white—that fit perfectly in her hand. Her D-Arc.

She took her attention from her running and looked at the screen. What she saw was approaching made her smile, and feel much less scared.

As if on cue, Tigremon lept to her side from what must have been from a nearby rooftop. She nodded to him, and he nodded to her, and they both ran to do their part. The D-Reaper had to be destroyed.

--

"Okay." Takato sounded prepared to accept the offer, for which Mala was grateful. She silently prayed that he wouldn't think she was crazy.

"Well, you've seen our village. On all sides of it, there's fields, for maybe two miles. Whatever the distance, it's pretty close to exact on all sides. A perfect circle, I mean. Anyways, beyond the fields is a ring of trees. And beyond the trees are the mountains. We don't know what's past those."

Takato nodded, which was comforting to Mala, who was expecting him to sarcastically thank her for a geography lesson he didn't care about.

"Well, about eight months ago, one of the villagers was killed in the forests. His body was completely mutilated. A lot of people were pretty hesitant to go into the forest from then on. A few just called them stories, and went in to prove that nothing bad was in there. There were six of them, and they never came back, either. From then 'til now, the people here have said they've been seeing monsters in the forests. The descriptions mostly match up; people who've seen them at different times describe them as being the same. There were at least four of them out there."

"Were they digitmon?"

Mala ignored the legitimate question, and went on. "Well, a month ago, a boy came in this world, he found himself in the woods. He didn't remember how he'd gotten there, but he was attacked by one of the monsters."

"So eight people have died in there." Takato said as he registered everything.

_Well, at least he's trying._

"No, the boy was Cronus, and he killed it. When he found his way to the village, the people here thought that _he_ was one of the things killing people out there. But he showed them the body, and they believed him. A week later, Cronus goes marching off into the forest for no reason at all, and finds you. He brings you here, and again, the people think that it was you who'd been doing it. But they owed Cronus for killing the monster, or at least they trusted him because of it."

"Could it have been digimon that attacked?" the teenager asked her.

She suddenly frowned.

--

Mala blocked out the fear as she fought. On the way there, she'd seen an abandoned car with what she recognized as a bag for hockey equipment in the backseat. Pushing her guilt aside, she ordered Tigremon to break into the car so that she could get at it. She wasn't trained to fight, but the D-Reaper's agents were numerous enough that she had to try.

She swung the hockey stick clumsily but powerfully, and did manage to take down several of the agents. Tigremon was doing a much better job, obviously, and his TigerFire attack was dispatching them quite efficiently.

The fight had been going for almost an hour, and she was getting tired. She ignored the pains in every muscle of her body, because she knew she had to fight.

Soon though, something had caught her attention from the corner of her eye. A beautiful, white-haired woman dressed in black armor was floating up towards the D-Reaper. A Sakuyamon, Mala recognized her as. She was relieved to see such a powerful ally, even if she didn't notice her back—

—but she was only relieved for a second, because there were two agents closing in on her from behind, and fast.

"Look out!" Mala screamed to her. But the noise was too great, and Sakuyamon didn't hear her.

She looked to Tigremon, who only looked back at her for a second to hang his head down apologetically before he leapt up to protect the Mega. He destroyed the first agent with ease, but he must have not notice the second, because it tore through him, and in an instant, he disappeared as data.

--

"Could it have been a digimon?" she heard Takato repeat.

"No." Mala answered flatly. "It wasn't a digimon."

"How do you know?" The tone Takato spoke to her in wasn't filled with the attitude she'd come to expect.

"Because digimon don't die the way that one did."

Takato didn't push her for how exactly she knew that. She missed Tigremon, of course, but she'd moved on. But still, she really didn't like talking about him to people she didn't know.

The moments that followed were awkward, expectedly, but Mala took the time to think. Takato knew more than she expected him to. He remembered his home, in the real world. Mala had, until then, been a little hateful to herself that she remembered her own home, and the fight that she'd had with her mother the last time she saw her. But something about Takato's presence was influencing how she was thinking.

She was hopeful.

She had very little reason to be, but she was. She felt that somehow, Takato would manage to save her from this place. She trusted him, even though she knew she shouldn't. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that he reminded her of—

"I'm sorry." Takato said sincerely, interrupting her thoughts.

"It's alright." She replied to him. "I just wasn't expecting to think of it."

"Can you tell me anything about this place? You said before that it plays with your memory. What did you mean?" He asked her.

Mala suddenly felt relieved, and she couldn't quite understand why. It took her a moment, but she suddenly felt very comfortable around the boy she'd just met.

"Okay." She answered. "Well, like I said, the people here don't remember anything before coming here."

Takato nodded, and let her continue.

"I've asked everyone here about home, in the real world." She smiled, a little embarrassed. "They all thought I was crazy. They didn't believe in there being another world."

"I'm sorry. It must have been hard for you."

It really was.

She shrugged, pretending it wasn't. "For a while, I started to doubt myself. But then Cronus came, and he believed me, because he's not like the others. He has memories from home, too. From what I can tell, he's been suffering from a different kind of memory loss than the others. He gets flashes here and there, but he hasn't been able to put much together, and I'm afraid I haven't been able to help him much either."

Takato frowned, looking towards the floor.

"He's a good person, though," Mala began, honestly. "A lot of the others don't trust him, but I do. I suppose you should decide for yourself, though."

"Probably." Takato said, with a weak smile. "I owe him a chance, anyways. For saving me, I mean."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate that." She smiled, looking at the teenager. He looked extremely exhausted, and his eyes had some dark marks under them that she hoped were because of his being tired, and not bruises. "I'll show you where your room is."

"I get a room?" Takato asked, a little impressed.

"The village has a few extras." Mala said, hoping he wouldn't catch the grim reality behind why they were empty. She'd personally cleaned them and changed the sheets, even dusted them regularly, though, so they were perfectly livable arrangements, as long as the tenant was alright knowing that the home's previous owner died in the woods.

She picked up her jean-jacket—one of the pieces of clothing from home that she still had—and slipped it on, then headed outside with Takato behind her.

They spoke of little things along the way—friends, school—it turned out Takato was sixteen, as Mala was, but he was a few months older.

When they got to the place, a short walk from Mala's own place, she told him that it was it. He thanked her, and seemed sincerely grateful. She was glad that he was nicer to her than he was when he first met her. The attitude was getting a little annoying.

"There's some extra sheets under the bed if you get cold." She told him. "Come find me tomorrow when you're up."

"Right, thanks. I will." He said with a smile.

"Good night."

"Night Mala."

She'd turned around and had started walking when she heard him speak again.

"Mala?"

She turned to him. "Yes?"

"Why're you helping me?"

_Because it's the right thing to do._

She smirked at him. "Someone's got to." With that, she headed home.

He didn't call her back, then. His question had caught her off-guard, but she did know why she was helping him. He just wouldn't understand.

--

"_No!_" she screamed as her beloved partner was taken from her life forever. Tigremon had managed to slow the agent down enough for Sakuyamon to destroy the agent before continuing her flight to the D-Reaper. Mala dropped the stick without realizing it, and as it hit the ground she realized that she was surrounded.

By the time Mala got the courage to fight, she'd been backed up far enough away from the hockey stick that she wouldn't be able to get to it before the agents got to her. She jumped as she felt her back hit the firm wall of a brick building.

She closed her eyes, and huddled to the ground as she waited for the darkness to take her.

"Justice Kick!"

Mala looked up with a gasp as a Justimon completely destroyed the agents surrounding her.

She stood up as he, to her surprise, separated into two beings—a black dragon-looking digimon that in truth scared Mala a bit—and a boy, a teenage boy, with brown hair, and the bluest eyes she thought possible. He looked maybe a year or two older than she was.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

_Tigremon_…

"I'm okay." She lied. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I was only doing what's right."

With a smirk and a little salute, the boy and his partner ran off. She'd met him for maybe forty seconds, but he had inspired her for the rest of her life.

--

Thanks for reading, please review, and I'll have the next chapter up as soon as it's ready!

-N


	4. Memory

I figured I'd post this chapter early since it was done. I didn't edit much, so if you notice any typos I'm going to have to say it's your own fault for noticing ;).

As for a clarification; yes, the guy who saved Mala _was_ Ryo, though it probably won't be a huge part of the story, although it'll have some more significance to Mala's character, and how she got here.

Anyways, this chapter should give you some more things to try and figure out.

Review, please!

-N

--

"If you don't go far enough back in memory or far enough ahead in hope, your future will be impoverished."

- Art Linkletter

--

"So how long was it before you started getting some real answers?"

Takato shrugged. "I figured a lot of it out shortly after. But I still had about a million questions, and each one led to a million more."

--

Takato lay in bed for several hours after Mala took him to his new 'home'. The bed was actually pretty comfortable, though it wasn't much to look at. The blankets were thick and warm, but soft. He couldn't really identify what exactly they were made of, but he didn't care much. He lay with his hands behind his head, reflecting on the day's events.

_Mala seems nice enough. Gave me a house, after all. Takato Matsuda—homeowner. Go me. I wonder how she knows about the digital world and all this. I'd have asked if she hadn't snapped at me for interrupting her. She knows a lot more than I thought she did. Hell, she knows more than I probably would if I'd been in her situation. I don't think I'd even be able to survive here on my own like she did. She must be stronger than she looks. Like Jeri._

Takato then found himself full of worry, of how Jeri was doing back in the recovery ward at Hypnos. He had to get back, so he could be there when she woke up. But he forced his mind elsewhere, as he knew obsessing over it at that time of night wouldn't help.

_How did Mala get here? Or Cronus, for that matter? I got here from a portal back in the complex. But back in that place, it didn't look like anyone had been using it. Valn had used digimon to build his labs. But there weren't any digimon here. But Mala knows about digimon. Maybe she knew about them before coming here. She said Cronus remembers more than the others in the village, but not as much as she and I do. She said he killed the monster that attacked. Whether the thing was or wasn't a digimon, it'd killed half a dozen people—how could he have killed it? He doesn't look particularly strong—even _I'm _taller than him. If these monsters are really so bad—_

Takato sat up, and his eyes widened. He'd come here from Valn's complex back in the real world. Takato knew for a fact that there were capabilities there to make monsters that both would and could kill people. Valn had been working on the virus that made his monster for a very long time, it seemed. Maybe these were some of his earlier efforts before he 'perfected' it.

The air was cool on his chest, so Takato lay back down, though his eyes remained open.

_If the monsters here are like the ones back home, then they can be beaten. Yamaki has a way to kill them. But then again, if the monster Valn made was the final product, then these ones might be easier to kill. Well, I guess they _are_ easier to kill. Cronus killed one._

He remembered that Mala said Cronus wasn't trusted by the others. If Cronus had killed one of the monsters that was hurting the village, Takato would expect them to be grateful.

Again, Takato sat up. He sighed heavily, realizing that he wasn't going to get any sleep. He decided to go for a walk—look around the village. It's not like he had anything better to do. He tossed the blankets off of him, and made the bed, before putting his shirt, the same long-sleeved white t-shirt he was wearing when he got there. It still bore some of the steins from the ashes and grease from the explosions back in the real world, and a few grass steins, as well. He didn't really care; it wasn't like fashion was at the top of his priority list.

He slipped on his socks and shoes, and went to the door. Takato instinctively reached to lock it, but felt a little embarrassed when he realized there was no lock, and nothing inside worth protecting.

When Takato stepped outside, it wasn't as cold as he thought it would have been. He decided to mentally map out the village. He'd come to terms that it was very possible he could be there for a while, so he might as well get to know where everything is.

The paths around the village were lit with large torches. He walked around, and counted 53 different houses. How many people there were living in each, he had no idea. When he came to Mala's, there were no lights on. While Takato was not surprised, he found himself a little disappointed. He noticed one place had a light on inside, and he recognized it as the one in which he'd woken up in. He looked in the window as he passed, and indeed saw Cronus sitting on his bed inside, writing in a book.

Takato knocked quietly at the door, and Cronus answered it a few seconds later.

"Takato, hi." Cronus said, his eyebrows raising a little. The blonde boy held the door open and indicated for Takato to enter. He was wearing the same green t-shirt he was earlier, and a pair of dark brown shorts.

"Hey." Takato said as he stepped in. "Was I interrupting anything?"

"Nah." Cronus said, hopping onto the bed and picking up the book. "How's your head?"

"Huh?" Takato murmured before he remembered that that girl had elbowed him in the forehead. "Oh, I'm fine, I guess. Is there a mark?"

"Kind of a red spot. Noria's pretty jumpy. She hit me too, when I first met her."

Takato laughed a little at the thought of the greeting.

_At least I'm not alone in that aspect. So, the mean one's name is Noria_.

"Sorry for coming so late, I couldn't sleep." Takato said, a little embarrassed. "If you're getting tired just kick me out."

"No problem, and will do." Cronus said with a nod and a grin. "How was your talk with Mala?"

"Went well. I think I'm all caught up on things." Takato answered. "Well, as caught up as I could be."

"Yeah, Mala's been wishing she could understand this place pretty often." Cronus said with a frown.

"What about you?" Takato asked. "Aren't you curious?"

"I've been trying to figure out other stuff." Cronus said awkwardly.

"Oh. Right." Takato blurted.

Cronus smirked a little. "Mala told you about me, huh?"

Takato felt flush from his embarrassment. He really hoped Mala wouldn't get in trouble for telling him. "Yeah, your memory, huh?"

Cronus nodded, lowering his sand-colored eyes to the floor.

"Is that what you were writing down?" Takato asked, hoping his questions weren't invasive."

"Oh, yeah." Cronus said, a little awkwardly. He seemed almost embarrassed for his memory loss. "Anytime I remember something from before getting here I write it down. My dreams, too. Trying to make some connections, you know? It really sucks not knowing who you are."

Takato really did feel he understood, but he didn't want to sound pompous in saying he did. Back in the real world, when he was helping Yamaki—the feelings of uncertainty and helplessness that he felt were nothing like he'd ever felt before. He felt like he wasn't himself. He _did_ understand not knowing who he was. But he just nodded.

"So why aren't you asleep?" Takato asked, changing the subject to make Cronus more comfortable.

"I really don't know." He answered with a little laugh. "You'd figure that after sleeping on the floor for three weeks I'd be eager to get back to bed.

Takato didn't quite understand why Cronus had slept on the floor. At first. Then he realized that it was because Takato was in the bed when he was unconscious.

"You slept on the floor for three weeks?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yeah," Cronus answered, embarrassed. "I didn't want to leave you alone. Just in case."

"I'm really sorry."

"Don't be. I'm glad you're okay."

Takato didn't understand why the people here wouldn't like or trust Cronus. Even Mala implied he had an oddness to him. As far as Takato was concerned, he was a very nice person, and a considerate one at that.

"Thanks." Takato told him. "For helping me, I mean."

"You already thanked me." Cronus told him.

"I know. Just, you know, just making sure."

"Can you tell me what you remember from the real world?" Takato asked. "It's okay if you don't want to, I was just cur—"

"Oh, sure!" Cronus said with some excitement. "Maybe some of these things will make any sense to you."

He opened the book that Takato had seen him write on, but just as soon closed it. Takato raised an eyebrow, but then Cronus pulled the blanket off his bed and asked Takato to back up. He complied, and Cronus spread it out on the floor and sat down. Takato did as well.

"Okay. Well, I remember digimon."

"That's a pretty good place to begin." Takato admitted. "_Most_ people don't know about them."

Cronus smiled, and Takato continued. "What do you remember about them?"

"Well, I remember I have a partner. Or, had, maybe. I don't know if they're okay, or if they've found a new partner themselves."

"You were a Tamer?" Takato asked.

"I guess so…?" Cronus sounded confused, and Takato felt guilty. But Cronus didn't seem offended or hurt or anything, to which Takato found solace. "I remember that 'Gatomon wanted bread'. I'm not sure why I remember that."

"Do you remember what a Gatomon is?" Takato asked.

Cronus frowned again. "No. Mala said it's like a cat, but I just can't picture it. Oh, and I remember cats too."

Takato felt an immense amount of pity for the teen who sat across from him. Takato couldn't bear the thought of forgetting Guilmon. He remembered the forced goodbye back when the D-Reaper had been beaten. The last time Takato had seen him, Guilmon had been asleep. Takato never got to say goodbye.

_Didn't _need_ to say goodbye. I'll see him again._

Takato wouldn't give up. He found Cronus's efforts to remember very inspiring, and he felt privileged to be asked to help.

"I don't remember much else about the real world." Cronus admitted. "Just that I want to get back there. I want to—you know, meet my partner there."

Takato thought he understood, and he nodded solemnly. When he didn't say anything, Cronus spoke.

"What about you? Tell me about yourself."

"Well, I'm 16—" Takato began.

"Oh! Me too!" Cronus said excitedly.

Takato grinned as he continued. "I'm a Tamer, too. My partner's a Guilmon. He's a red dinosaur, with some black marks, and a hazard sign on his chest. He was—he's really playful, and kind of behaves like one of those giant dogs that thinks they're still a puppy. He's probably triple my weight, and has no objections to falling asleep across me."

Cronus laughed at the image, and Takato went on. "There's a girl back home I'd like to get back to, too. Her name's Jeri. She's really sweet. She's got red hair, and she's really nice, and smart, and—" Takato frowned.

"You miss her?" Cronus asked, understanding.

"Yeah, I really do." He admitted. "Before I came here, she got hurt, and I don't know if she's okay or not."

"I'm sorry." Cronus said quietly.

"Not your fault."

_It was mine._

During the silence that followed, Takato remembered that he wanted to ask Cronus about the monsters, but for a reason he couldn't explain, he decided against it, at least for the time being.

"How'd you find me?" Takato asked.

"I'm not sure."

"Oh, sorry."

"No, I mean—that's not something I forgot, or anything, I just—I just knew I'd find something out there. I just knew it."

Takato wasn't quite sure he understood what Cronus meant, but didn't push for him to explain it after he saw him struggle to describe what he already had. Deep down, he knew that he'd understand sooner or later, anyways.

When Takato looked back up, the blonde teenager was staring at something out the window. The look that Takato saw on his face was of pure intrigue, and it got the best of Takato, too, who turned to see what was so interesting.

Off in the distance, over all the trees, and the top of one of the mountains, was a blue light, that was pulsing. It was difficult to see, however, because of the glare of the nearby torch, so Takato headed outside to take a look from a different perspective. Cronus had apparently had the same idea.

"What is it?" Takato asked, not taking his eyes off of it. It was beautifully hypnotic. It pulsed at a regular pace, and was very bright.

"I haven't figured it out yet." Cronus answered.

"You've seen it before?" Takato asked, turning to him.

"Yeah. I think this makes—the fourth time." Cronus took his eyes off of the light as he pondered for a moment. "Yeah. It's been once a week—every seventh day."

"Has it always been this late at night?"

"Yeah."

"Has anyone else seen it?"

"No, I don't think so. Nobody's mentioned anything about it to me, I mean. Then again, the people here don't so much talk _to_ me as they, you know, talk _about _me." He said, obviously hurt.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"I don't know, I really like it. To be honest, I was working in my book so late tonight so that I could see it again. I didn't tell any of them 'cause it's kind of mine, you know?"

"I think so." Takato said absentmindedly. It _was_ beautiful to look at. While he wasn't exactly sure he'd do the same in Cronus's situation, he wasn't going to jeopardize his new friend's privacy.

The two stared at the light for another two minutes before it pulsed off as silently as it appeared.

Takato had no idea what to say afterwards, but when he saw Cronus shift uncomfortably, he looked down to see that his feet were bare, and that the dirt was cold.

"I'm going to head back, try to get some sleep." Takato said finally. "I'll catch you later."

"Okay. Good night." Cronus replied. "Thanks for helping me remember things."

Takato smiled to him. "No problem. We can try again tomorrow, if you want."

He nodded in response. "Yeah, okay. Later."

Takato thought things over as he headed back to his room. He was _pretty_ sure he trusted Cronus, though there was definitely more to him than meets the eye if he was able to kill one of the 'monsters'. He didn't seem to be hiding anything—he answered everything Takato asked relatively quickly and believably. Unless the memory loss and the innocence were a front, Cronus seemed to be on the level.

Takato pushed the door open to his room and stepped inside. He sat on the bed, and pulled off his shoes and socks, which he set aside on the floor. He then pulled off his shirt, inspecting some of the steins on it. Frowning, he folded it neatly and put it underneath the bed, on top of the spare sheets.

He crawled under the blanket, which he wrapped around himself as he shuddered at the feel of the bed's temperature on his skin. As he waited for himself to warm up, he thought of the light he'd seen. Why hadn't Cronus investigated it? If he was really capable of defending himself, and he'd seen it for three times in three weeks, wouldn't the curiosity get the best of him?

His mind cycled through his thoughts as he closed his eyes.

Mala. Digital world. Monsters. Memory loss. Valn. Virus. Cronus. Tamer. Gatomon wants bread. Light.

After deciding that he would find out what the light was sooner or later, he found it easier to get to sleep than he'd expected.

--

Alright, well, I hope this gives some understanding of who Cronus is. The next chapter is from Takato's perspective for some, and Mala's perspective for most, and will have some flashbacks like the last one did a-la-Lost. It should thicken the plot a bit, as well as reveal how she got to where she is. The one after it'll be from Cronus's perspective, and you'll get to find out what his deal is.

Oh, the calamity!

Catch you later, review please!

-N


	5. Father

"_Please_ tell me that this poor guy gets his memory back at some point." Takato's friend seemed to be showing a great deal of pity whenever Takato mentioned Cronus's memory loss.

"Yeah." Takato said with a nod. "He does. At some point."

--

Mala stretched. She'd slept well considering the events from the evening before. Not that she found them particularly cumbersome or dull, even, it was just that she was up very late talking to Takato. He seemed to be adapting better than she would have expected. She hoped they could be friends—she recognized qualities in him that she would not object to have by her side.

And she'd need all the help she could get, too. Mala imagined she had a long day ahead of her. She was certain that by now, word had gotten out that Takato had woken up.

_Cronus had to kill something that was hurting them, and they still barely tolerate him. What on earth can Takato do to win them over?_

Mala paused a moment, wondering how exactly she came to be so influential in the village. It wasn't something she forgot, she knew that much. But it was something she never knew, and didn't bother questioning.

Deciding it wasn't important enough for the then-and-there, Mala continued to tidy her home.

_Home._

She sighed at the thought of the word. She'd been slipping up more and more in its usage; she knew she wasn't catching herself every time she said it. She didn't hate it where she was. But it wasn't home. Not even close.

Mala walked to her dresser, and dug around in the middle drawer. When she removed her hand, it contained what she'd expected: her D-Arc. It was useless, now—the screen remained dead ever since her partner—ever since she—lost life.

--

Mala walked the streets absentmindedly.

She hadn't anywhere to go, and nobody to worry about the fact that she wasn't there. A tear rolled down her cheek as she thought of the fight with her mother she'd had before she insisted on running out of the house to battle the D-Reaper. Before her partner was killed.

It had been a week. The D-Reaper had been killed—no thanks to her—and the digimon were gone. Mala'd been living on the streets since that night, but you couldn't tell it from looking at her. She managed to keep clean, and any passerby wouldn't know that she was technically homeless. She stopped home the night after her battle with the agents to grab some clothes and a few personal effects, which she carried with her in her backpack.

If only her partner had made it through that last battle. He could have returned home. Maybe she could have gone back to her home, too.

Her thoughts turned to the boy who'd saved her. She could vaguely picture him in her mind, but in doing so felt that she must be exaggerating the color of his eyes, which she remembered prominently. She wondered how he felt then—if all the digimon returned, his partner would be gone, too. But she'd seen him—he _was_ the Justimon, just as much as his partner was. Maybe he too, left this world for the other.

The streets were just about empty as she walked along them. With her left hand, Mala fiddled with the object attached to her belt. She still kept her D-Arc with her—though she wasn't sure why. It confused her—it had been a comfort to her for what seemed like a very long time, but she now thought of it as a burden—a ball and chain that she found herself having to look at every day. She knew it, too, but it made things no easier. Deep down, she knew that she stared at it in hopes that it would somehow give her a sign that things would be alright.

And as she thought this—about how things couldn't get any worse—she felt a hand wrap around her mouth and pull her into an alleyway. The scream couldn't get out.

--

Mala carefully placed the D-Arc back into the drawer and closed it. Uncomfortable with the room's temperature, she pulled the door wide open, and hung a thin blanket over the opening, as she usually did. She had always been resourceful. She'd sewn many of the blankets in the village, and even made a few shirts and pants. She'd mended her jeans more than a few times.

She wondered if that was why the people in the village didn't mind her company. She _was_ useful. Cronus managed to help them out, too—

—_Poor guy._

Mala really did pity Cronus. He spent so much time every day trying to piece his life together, to get back his memories, while Mala would be more than willing to trade-places with him…to forget everything that she had done, and to forget everything that had happened to her. She really hoped that Takato and he would get along. She felt she knew Takato better than she did, at least enough to feel that he and Cronus could be good friends if things went well.

She decided that she'd talk to Noria about Takato. While Noria was rather hot-headed, and wasn't particularly fond of Mala, she too was very influential around the village, and Mala knew that if she could convince Noria that Takato was no threat, then surely the others would follow suit. Mala didn't particularly care for Noria's company, but she respected her devotion to the village's safety, however negatively Mala felt it influenced her behavior.

As much as she hated procrastinating, she embraced the idea of it then. Cronus had been trying to convince Noria for weeks that caring for Takato was the right course of action. Mala herself stayed out of it—though she'd certainly _heard_ the two of them argue about it. The issue was, that while Noria had nothing _against_ nursing Takato to health, she knew about Cronus's usefulness around town, and argued that Cronus's time would be better spent on other actions. Mala would have volunteered to take care of Takato herself, if it didn't support Noria's obvious desire to send Cronus out into the forests. Mala didn't exactly approve of dark, scary places.

--

"Shh!"

Mala felt tears well up in her eyes as she struggled against the person who had her at his mercy. He had one arm bounding hers, and the other covering her mouth. She'd taken some self-defense courses, but she found herself paralyzed with fear. She even had a knife in her backpack, but there was no chance of her getting to it.

"You're Mala, right? I need your help. It's about the digimon." The man asked

She suddenly stopped struggling, though she continued to breathe heavily. She felt the grip loosen, and she pulled forward and spun around. The man she stared at looked to be in his 30's, had reddish-brown hair, which was cut short and had a strong build. He wore a navy sweater, and some black jeans. He held his hands up and backed away a step to make Mala more comfortable.

It would have, too, if the asshole hadn't just pulled her off the streets.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Joseph." The man told her.

"What do you want?" Mala wasn't feeling a driving need to be courteous and introduce herself.

"I need your help." Joseph answered promptly but slowly.

"With?"

"The digimon." He repeated.

"They're gone." Mala said coldly, the image of Tigremon flashing into her mind.

"I know. I'm trying to get them back."

--

Mala slipped on her shoes, and headed to Cronus' place. She knew some of the villagers were resentful of his friendship with her. Mala wasn't conceited, but she knew that most of the people in the village wanted her time spent on them. But Cronus was the closest thing she had to a friend there. He was the only one who believed her that there was another world.

She knocked at his door when she arrived. It took a moment for him to answer, but when he did, Mala realized that he'd been sleeping. What got her was that it was just after noon, and he barely seemed to sleep.

"Taking the day off?" she grinned at him, causing him to force a weak smile back at her. She stepped inside without being invited, which was the impolite tradition amongst the two. She looked to him and held in a laugh. His hair was flat on one side, and his eyes were half closed. He wore his usual green t-shirt, and a pair of shorts that she'd made for him a few weeks ago.

"Apparently." Cronus groaned, walking back to the bed and flopping over on it, lying down on his back, and closing his eyes. "I take it it's not morning?"

"Not even close." Mala answered, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Have trouble getting to sleep?" she asked.

"Nah. Takato must have, though. He came by for a while last night after you guys talked."

Mala wasn't surprised that Takato had trouble getting to sleep. Who wouldn't, their first night, suddenly being thrown in a place like this?

_Well, Cronus…_

He'd adapted much quicker than she did, and probably quicker than Takato would. Granted, he was usually a pretty easygoing person.

"So what do you think of him?" Mala asked, masking the eagerness she felt.

"He seems like a pretty nice guy." Cronus answered. "The guy has a whole lot of questions, though, he just wasn't asking them."

"Oh, you're lucky." Mala told him. "Try having him ask you things you don't know the answers to."

"Yeah, sorry about that." He murmured

Mala hadn't been thinking of him when she'd said it.

"I didn't mean—"

"I know, just trying to make you uncomfortable."

She smiled but didn't say anything for a few seconds. Mala turned to him, who hadn't opened his eyes. She turned away from him and looked to the floor.

"We're going to have a tough time convincing everyone that Takato's on the level." She said quietly.

"We?" he mumbled.

She turned to him. "You don't think we can trust him?"

"Didn't say that."

"I need to know if you're on my side with this." She said seriously.

"Of course I am. I'm just really tired." Cronus replied with mock-seriousness. She would have smacked him if he didn't have such an adorable grin on his face. His eyes were still closed, though, so she took the opportunity to punch him playfully but firmly in the stomach. It actually hurt her hand a little, but the sting was dulled by the laughter that came from seeing his reaction. He, too, laughed, but was winded, so Mala knew she was safe. She hopped off the bed towards the door before spinning back to him. "Get out of bed _sometime_ today."

Seeing that she was leaving, Cronus must have known he too was safe, and mumbled some kind of affirmation before rolling back over away from her.

Mala closed the door quietly, deciding she'd bothered him enough for the time being. She assumed that Takato too would probably still be asleep, if he'd been with Cronus. She wasn't comfortable with the idea of waking him up, though, so she decided to head back to her house. She'd only taken five steps towards it from Cronus's door before she stopped and turned the other way, to go see Noria.

--

Mala wasn't sure why she followed Joseph. But she did. Literally. She made him lead, and he even let her take the knife from her backpack. "Anything to make her comfortable", is what he'd told her. Where she followed him to a doorway in a nearby alleyway. Inside was a stairwell that led down. Maybe she followed him because she had no one else to follow.

_Bring them back._

Mala knew that the chances of him meaning "from the dead" were one in a million—that he meant he wanted to re-open the portals that the Monster Makers had closed. She didn't have to think about it long before she figured out what she'd hoped to accomplish. If she could help open the portals to the digital world again, then she'd be even with the blue-eyed boy who'd saved her.

Mala was very mindful of such debts. Not so much of what people owed her, but she hated the feeling of owing another. She typically paid favors back many times over before she felt free of it. Reuniting the boy and his partner—it'd be a good place to start.

"How did you find me?" she asked him.

"I saw you fighting the D-Reaper last week." Joseph suddenly stopped and turned to her. "I'm so sorry for what happened to your partner."

_Me too._

She just looked at him. It wasn't his place to say such a thing, however good his intentions might have been. But she wasn't thankful for his bringing it up, and the feelings all negated each other.

For a few minutes, as they went down the stairs, it got colder, the deeper they got. But soon enough, Joseph led her to a door, and when she stepped through it, she felt much more comfortable. Physically, at least.

The place that Joseph had taken her was a giant hallway. Farther down it were at least two intersections, and at the very end was a stairwell that she could see lead both down and up.

"What is this place?"

"This is where I work." Joseph began. "It's a 38-story underground complex."

"And what exactly happens here?" Mala asked, looking down the hallway instead of at him.

"Research, mostly." He said thoughtfully.

"What kind of research?"

"Medicine, most prominently...though lately the focus has shifted towards the digimon."

Mala suddenly lit up. She'd nearly forgotten about why she came with him, she'd been so overwhelmed by where she stood.

"You said you wanted to bring them back." She said, looking back to him. "What did you mean?"

"Just that." Joseph answered. "To defeat the D-Reaper, the Monster Makers had to pull all digital life back to the digital world. Now that the threat is gone, there's no reason that they should have to stay there."

Mala approved of the idea—it was what she had hoped for. But she still had one more question before she'd even consider it.

"Why?"

"The children whose partners were sent back—they think they'll never see them again. They don't even know if they're alive. And I think they deserve to. Don't you?"

He had her with that.

"Okay. I'll help. What do you want me to do?"

--

Mala knocked on the door after a deep breath. Noria looked surprised to see her there. Noria was wearing what she usually did—the black shirt and the pair of jeans that Mala'd given her. They were one of the changes of clothes that she'd had with her when she came.

"Oh. Hi, Mala." Noria said before holding the door open for her. "Come on in."

"Hey, Noria, how are you?"

"Getting by. You?"

"Life stays interesting." Mala replied after some thought.

"So what occasions the visit?" Noria asked.

_Ow._

Straight to the point. Oh well. "Well, I'm sure you've heard about T—about Cronus's friend waking up."

"Yeah, I saw him yesterday." She answered with a snicker. Mala wasn't sure she even wanted to know what had happened.

"Well, I know there's going to be some disagreements around town about him staying here, and I'd like to know where you stand."

"Fair enough." Noria smirked. "Well, you know how I don't approve about outsiders."

_Crap._

"You don't seem to really disapprove of me." Mala noted.

"Yeah, but you're a special case." Noria tried to explain.

Mala wasn't sure what she meant, but did not want the conversation to lead to a 'Mala's-an-outsider-too' direction, so she made a mental note to think on it later.

"You've done a lot of good here, is what I mean." Noria went on. Mala would have blushed if she wasn't so nervous. She found Noria intimidating as hell. She had a way about her that Mala found downright scary sometimes.

"Thanks." Mala told her.

"But you know how many problems our village has—just yesterday, someone told me that they saw one of the monsters outside of the forest. Not by much, mind you, but it came out from under the trees." Noria said seriously. "They _never _do that."

"What are you implying?" Mala asked carefully.

"I've no reason to think there's a connection between him and them, I'm just reporting what I've been told." Noria said defensively.

"Okay. Sorry." Mala told her. "What's the verdict on Takato, then? He hasn't done anything wrong."

"Well, he hasn't given me any reason to trust him." Noria started. "But he hasn't given my any reason to think he's a threat, so I'll give him a chance. I certainly don't think he's the savior Cronus thinks he could be, but he can stay. For now."

"Thank you."

"Please don't. I don't trust him any more than I trust Cronus. So tell both of them to watch what they do."

"Alright. I will."

With very little else, Mala left Noria's house, and after a minute of breathing deep, she let out the smile she didn't expect to come.

--

"So how long have you been a Tamer?" Joseph asked her.

The question took her by surprise. Mala never _really_ thought of herself as a Tamer. To her, the tamers were the kids that the news talked about. The kids that helped.

"A few months ago, I was at the zoo after school." She told him. "I don't know why I went, but I did. I was looking at the monkeys when I heard something behind me. When I turned, I saw Tigremon standing there, not two feet away from me. A lot of people saw him, and they were scared. I heard people panicking, and screaming, and saw them run away, but I didn't even flinch."

Joseph smiled at her, and she realized how passionate and reminiscent she must have sounded.

"It was a long time ago." She mumbled, embarrassed.

"How old are you?" he asked, letting her off the hook by changing the subject. "Fourteen, fifteen?"

"Fifteen." Mala answered.

Joseph nodded. "Do you know a girl named Rika?"

Mala thought for a moment, but told him she didn't after she realized she'd never even heard the name before.

"Should I?"

"Probably not, I guess." He seemed awkward then, but before Mala could ask who she was, a man walked in.

"Nonaka?" the man called to him.

"Yes, Alex?"

"Who's this?" the man asked Joseph, indicating Mala. The man was slim and tall, and wore a white lab coat.

"This is Mala. She's going to help me with my project to open the digital portals."

Mala stepped forward. "Nice to meet y—"

But Alex cut her off. "We've been over this. We decided that pursing that project doesn't make sense."

Joseph sounded irritated. "No, _you_ said it doesn't make sense. I still happen to think that it's worth doing. Besides, Alex, I'm funding it, so this doesn't affect you in any way."

Mala heard Alex curse under his breath as he stormed out of the room.

"I'm sorry about him." Joseph told her.

"What's his problem?"

Joseph laughed a little. "The people here—we don't get out very much."

Mala had already noticed that, but she wasn't quite sure why, so she asked.

"Why not?"

"We're kind of top-secret. Legally, most of us are dead."

Mala hadn't expected that to be the answer. That morning she'd been eating half eaten muffins people'd left on tables at a crappy restaurant, and now she was mingling with people who are hiding out from the world.

She was there for several weeks, helping Joseph with his research. There was little she was trained to do, but Joseph insisted her participation in the many scans, and the answering of his questions, and allowing him access to her D-Arc was helping immensely.

One day, her curiosity got the best of her.

"So who is she?" Mala asked.

"Who?" Joseph asked, not looking up from his work.

"The girl you asked me about."

Joseph _did_ look up, then, but not at her. He seemed to just be thinking. "Rika. She's my daughter. She's your age." He returned to his work.

"So why'd you think I'd know her?" Mala asked.

Joseph looked around before beckoning her over. She did, and he whispered to her, "She's a Tamer, too. Alex doesn't know, though. If he did, he'd insist I bring her in on this project."

"Why don't you?"

"I only need one assistant." He said, smiling at her.

Mala actually felt her heart warm then. Her own father had died when she was a little girl from a tumor in his brain. Not that she was looking to replace him, or anything, but she found it nice to have someone there who wanted to take care of her.

"So why'd you ask me instead of her?"

"You looked to be needing the help." He said with a grin.

Mala smiled a little, too, and was filled with a sudden rush of appreciation for his taking her in.

"Thanks, by the way."

"For what?" he asked coyly, returning to his work.

--

Mala was doing some sewing when Takato came by later that afternoon.

"Hey, what's up?" Takato asked casually.

"Not a lot. It turns out I kick ass at problem solving." She said just as casually, getting a laugh of Takato.

"Do I want to know?"

"Probably, but I'm trying to get my mind off of it for now." Mala was telling the truth. She sewed primarily to distract herself from other thoughts, and it was coming in handy. "So what do you think of Cronus?"

"I think he's a good guy." Takato said with a nod.

"I'm glad."

"Yeah, me too."

"So how'd you sleep?"

"Not bad at all, actually."

"That's good."

"Yeah. Anyways, yesterday, you asked me to come by today?"

Mala looked up, accidentally pulling the needle away from the thread.. "Yeah. It's just—I know it's difficult—adapting to this place. I just wanted to make sure that you're doing okay."

Takato nodded, but didn't say anything.

Mala went on. "Well, you know where I live if you need me. Cronus too. Both of us are here if you need us, and even when you don't. The others in the village are still worried that you might be a danger somehow, but they're coming around. You've got your work cut out for you if you plan on having Noria as a lifetime friend, but, given our situation, I'd say things are going well."

Takato suddenly smiled a little bit. "Are you always this optimistic?"

She didn't answer, threaded the needle effortlessly, and went back to work.

--

"You don't get to see her, do you?" Mala asked suddenly. "Your daughter, I mean."

Joseph frowned. "No, not really. I see her, I mean. But she—she doesn't get to see me."

"I'm sorry." Mala told him. "It must be hard."

Her father figure nodded. "Yeah. It makes it easier that I'm so proud of her, though. If this project goes through, I'll have done enough here to quit and finally go see her—and have her be able to see me."

Mala was glad that he was making the best of his situation. "Okay, so are we ready to try this?"

"I think so." Joseph said carefully, after double-checking his figures.

On the rail behind Mala was her backpack, but they both looked past it and down to the portal generator. It just looked like a large platform. If all worked well, a portal would open on it, and the digital and real worlds would be connected again.

"Okay." Joseph said, nervously. "I'll go in, and activate the beacon. When I do, it should send enough power back to this world to open the gates that were here in the city a few months ago." He indicated the map, and repeated the same thing he'd told her over and over the past few weeks. She didn't mind hearing him say it, though. "Now the portals in this area here," he said, indicating the forest next to the city park. "the portals in this area are the ones we're going to try opening. Wish me luck."

"Good luck Joseph." Mala said. She was extremely excited. She hadn't had anything to look forward to in a very long time. Mala activated the switch, and she and Joseph looked over the rail to the platform—and sure enough—a grey sphere suddenly appeared—the portal.

Just then, Alex stormed in, a look of pure fury on his face. "You _idiot_!" he hissed. "You damn near killed us all!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You opened a portal to _my_ project!"

"You mean you've been—" Joseph began. He got cut off, though, when Alex raised a gun that fired two darts containing a red liquid into Joseph's neck. "Valn you—"

"No!" Mala called.

Alex's expression of anger hadn't changed since he'd entered the room. Mala hadn't moved at all—was too scared to. She moved though, when Alex planted his right foot into her ribs, and she felt her back hit the rail as she fell backwards. Her backpack, too, fell down, and the last thing she saw before she entered the portal was him looking down at her.

--

Well, that's chapter 5 for you. The way things are looking, the next chapter is going to be a longer one, but it'll make sense of Cronus for you all.

Review if you enjoyed, and thanks for reading.

-N


	6. Cronus

A/ N – Mala's sixteen—she was fifteen when she arrived, and has been there for around a year.

Thanks for the review and the support,

-N

--

What we think or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only thing of consequence is what we do.

John Ruskin

--

"So then it was the light." His friend said with understanding.

"Yeah." Takato nodded. "Took me damn near forever to get to it. But there was something that had happened before. Which is why I need your help."

--

"Pass the flour, please?"

"Okay. Why?"

"The Gatomon wants bread."

"What's that?"

Cronus woke up, and sighed. It was the third time he'd had the dream. Of course, by the time he did, he didn't even know which voice in the dream was his own. He pulled out the book he wrote in daily, and scribbled down as much of the dream – as many details as he remembered, what was said, the genders of the voices.

It'd been three weeks since Takato and he had seen the blue light. Twenty-three days, more specifically. After Takato'd seen it, he insisted on seeing it again every week. Apparently Takato had some difficulty keeping track of dates without a calendar, and requested Cronus's help in keeping him reminded of when it would be. Cronus didn't mind – he was always up late anyways, so what was one more thing to keep tabs on?

Cronus liked Takato. Cronus considered himself a decent judge of character – he wasn't naïve, though—he just managed to see some good in everyone. He saw it very easily in both Takato and Mala – his only friends there. He even managed to see good in Noria. She was mean, but she had good intentions.

_I wonder if I have friends in the real world?_

He frowned, worried that he might not. Mala had told him once that she very much enjoyed his company, and that she wished they'd known each other in the real world, so she could give him some answers. But they weren't, and they didn't.

At the least, he knew he didn't belong where he was. He had memories—flashed, more like—of the _other_ world, sure. But he didn't know who he really was. He worried frequently that he was some horrible person, with no friends, and that he'd come to this world to start over. He was scared to find out.

So was everyone else, even if it was just a little. They all knew that he'd killed one of the monsters. They didn't know how. Or what had happened. But they were scared, he knew it. Even Takato. The way Cronus behaved when Takato came over was a front, for lack of a better word. He hated to think that he was lying to Takato about who he was, but it was justified in the sense that even Cronus didn't know who he was. There was something about Takato that made Cronus remember things more clearly. Takato was better at helping Cronus remember things than Mala was. Cronus was just being extra-nice to make sure Takato still was comfortable coming back.

Cronus was glad that Takato was adapting to life there. But Cronus could tell that Takato wanted to get back home, to his friends. Takato had told him about all of them, to the point that Cronus felt that he knew them. He remembered what Takato had said about them very clearly…personalities, physical appearances, and such. He knew that the girl that he wanted to get back to was Jeri.

Cronus quite guiltily found himself feeling jealous of Takato, for having such people to get back to, to look forward to seeing again. Whenever Cronus thought of Takato, he thought of himself, and found himself wondering if anyone was waiting for him to come back, or if anyone even noticed that he was gone.

Cronus knew that the villagers didn't like him anymore than they trusted him. They'd at least stopped gossiping about him in _front_ of him. Noria very rarely talked to Cronus anymore, since he'd told her that he was going to keep Takato protected until he either woke up, or died. Cronus still liked her, though, even if she didn't like him back. He liked all of them, really.

It was only Mala who Cronus couldn't notice any fear at all from. She'd asked him once how he'd killed the monster. Cronus didn't want to lie, so he just told her that 'he didn't know how it happened'. Takato asked him about it a week ago, and Cronus just told him the same. From Takato, though, Cronus _did_ sense a certain amount of discomfort.

_It could be worse._

It could.

--

He felt like he'd been ripped apart and put together out of place when he opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered doing was blinking, and when his eyes opened up again, his memories were all but gone, and all he knew was that he wasn't where he should be.

He was standing, but it took him a few moments to realize that he was. He tried to wiggle his fingers.

_Check._

He then looked down at them, and saw that he didn't recognize them. He collapsed to his knees in a sudden pain as he struggled to control his body. For all he knew, it wasn't his. His hands dug into gravel in the puddle he found himself in, and ignoring the pain, looked anxiously for the water to settle so that he could see his face.

When it did, he didn't recognize it. He pushed himself up, and when he looked at his hands, they bled a small bit. He looked down at himself and realized that he was wearing some jeans and a green t-shirt. They didn't look familiar at all. He reached into his pockets to search for some identification. But all he produced was a small, obscure object that he didn't recognize. It would be two weeks later when he would find out that it was called a "D-Arc".

--

Cronus was sitting on his bed, holding his D-Arc, which did nothing. He hadn't told anyone that he had it—he saw Mala with hers a few days after he came to the village. When he asked what it was, she seemed bothered, so he didn't ask for details. She just told him that it was a sensitive subject to her, and that she didn't like talking about it.

_Fair enough._

He understood, sure. He just wished he could get some answers.

Standing up and stretching, he tucked the D-Arc back under his bed. He scratched at his side, and looked at the long but light scar that ran from his side to his back. He pulled out a small piece of mirror he'd been given from Mala, turned awkwardly, and used it to look at his back, which also bore more scars than he knew was normal.

Cronus hadn't told or shown anyone, of course. He had to do his best to convince them he was as normal as could be. They already didn't like him. It had been nearly two months since he arrived, and he only had two people he could call friends.

He really did like Mala and Takato, but he just wished they weren't so curious about him. Cronus was uncomfortable with the idea of them finding out who he is before he did himself. He dressed himself, and went outside to the well to get some water to pad his hair down. He'd let it grow out a little longer, so it was only a small bit shorter than Takato's was when he first arrived. Mala had cut Takato's hair so it had stayed the same length.

Cronus smiled a bit, realizing that even though he had no idea who or what he was, he was happy. He had friends, he was healthy, and he had a place to stay.

--

Takato was helping Noria carry water from the well to her house that morning. He didn't mind—it's not like he had much else to do. After being in a new village for six weeks, even if he was only conscious for three of them, he'd adapted. It was difficult for him, though. He didn't like to think of home, because of all the people he missed, people who he realized would think he was dead. But he had to think of home if he was to find a way back there. He hadn't given up hope yet. Not even for a minute.

He'd seen Noria struggling with the pails when he'd seen her on one of his many walks around the village. He offered to help, and she was surprisingly polite from him. Mala had told Takato that it would be difficult to win Noria over.

"Thanks." She told him when they arrived at her house.

"No problem" Takato said honestly. "There's not much else to do around here."

Noria frowned a little. "I suppose that's true."

Takato suddenly felt guilty he'd said it, but didn't retract the statement, as he knew that they _both_ knew that it was true.

"Can I ask you something?" Takato asked.

"Sure." Noria said after a confused beat.

"Do you have any problem with me being here? In the village, I mean."

The question didn't seem to take Noria by surprise. "To be honest, I wasn't comfortable with the idea at first. But you've pretty much proven to us that you're no threat to the village.

Takato nodded. "And what about Cronus?"

This one _did_ seem to take Noria by surprise. But she still spoke clearly and didn't hesitate. "He doesn't belong here." She said. "I still have—with good reason—belief that he is a danger to us."

Takato didn't really believe her, but didn't defend him, either. He'd known him for only a few weeks, and while he saw nothing dangerous about Cronus at all, he knew that if Noria believed something, he wouldn't be able to change her mind. At least not at that time.

Maybe the reason that Takato was so interested in Cronus was the blue light. He _needed_ to find out what it was. Cronus hadn't told anyone about it, which was _something_ that struck Takato as curious. Then again, who _wasn't_ weird in that place?

Takato then decided that he'd ask Cronus to tell Mala of it. He'd figure something out after that. To get to Cronus's light would mean going through the forest. And, according to Mala, the only way he could make it through the forest is with Cronus's help.

--

Cronus was planting some seeds he'd found when Takato approached him. They smiled and nodded to each other, and Cronus turned back to his work.

"Hey." Takato said.

"What's up?" Cronus asked.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you."

"Sure." Cronus answered.

"I think we should tell Mala about the light we've been seeing."

Cronus turned and looked up to him. "Why?"

"She might know something about it. Something like that—it doesn't look natural, not even for this place. I want to go find it. But I'd need to know if Mala knows anything about it."

Cronus paused, thinking over his friend's request. He didn't exactly understand _why_ Takato wanted to know what it was so badly, but he felt compelled to grant the request. "You know about what's in the forests." He warned.

"Yeah. I do. I'd need your help."

Again, this made Cronus stop. He really didn't _want_ to help, at least not with this. But he knew he would. He had to.

"All right." He said finally. "Let's talk to Mala."

"Thank you." Takato said sincerely.

Cronus didn't reply; not to be rude, but he was just busy thinking things over. He was too busy thinking things over. Specifically, everything that could go wrong.

--

He walked through the forest that he never remembered entering. The trees even looked strange to them, but he only had vague memories of what they _should_ look like. He wandered aimlessly for three hours before he found any sign of life—movement in the trees that wasn't caused by wind.

Stopping, he looked up to the ruffling noise in the leaves above him. He knew it wouldn't be a person—why on earth would a person be up so high, sitting in a tree? Still, he was curious to see some sign of life after noticing none in the forest.

But then, all of a sudden, a black-brown figure fell very quickly from the branch above him. His curiosity bound him to the ground, and even when the gigantic creature landed in front of him, he held his footing.

The beast resembled the shape of a dog, was brown with black areas, and stood about eight feet tall. Its face was a disgusting mess of dried blood and basically rotting off of itself. When it growled at him, its teeth were exposed—the shortest of which he noticed was two and a half inches long.

The beast lunged at him, and he ducked out of the way. When it was behind him, he _ran_. He turned to look, and apparently he was good at running, as he kept a steady pace ahead of the creature. The boy grit his teeth and pressed on even as the fatigue began to take its toll on him. He weaved in and out of trees, trying to slow down his pursuer, but when a _second_ creature ran towards him, he panicked more than he already was. This second creature looked more like it could have been a large lizard, if it did not have such intimidating spikes sticking from its back that stood taller than the creature did itself.

The boy turned behind him, seeing that the dog-monster was catching up to him as his pace slowed down. Turning back towards him, he saw that he had seconds before the next one was on top of him. Before he knew it, he was against a tree, both monsters circling him.

The boy's teeth were still grit, and he was breathing heavily, the adrenaline being replaced by terror. He thought he saw a light shine through his pocket, but he couldn't bring himself to look down to it, he'd kept his eyes trained on the beasts. Finally giving in, knowing there was nothing he could do, he clenched his eyes and felt the tears well as he waited for the end.

But he felt no pain, and after hearing a hideous shriek of pain that he realized wasn't his, he opened his eyes again. When he looked around, the monsters were both dead, and he was covered in blood that didn't belong to him.

--

"Hey guys." Mala said as she answered the door.

"Hey." Both Cronus and Takato said. It was in fact, the first thing that had been said by them since Takato had asked Cronus to speak with Mala. Cronus would have found the walk awkward if he didn't have a million other things to think of.

"Is everything alright?" Mala said, concerned, looking at Cronus. He tried to hide the smile that came from knowing that she knew something was wrong.

"Two days ago," Cronus began, purposefully ignoring her question, "Takato and I saw a light on the mountain. It was blue, and it faded on and off."

Cronus saw Mala's expression change, but he went on. "I've seen it every seven days before then, too. It happens very early in the morning, and we were wondering if you've ever seen it, or know anything about it."

"Why?" Mala began cautiously.

"You know something about it?" Takato asked, surprised.

Cronus was a little irritated that Takato had requested that they get information from Mala, then be surprised that she had some. Cronus felt guilty, but knew his irritability came from not wanting to put Takato in the danger of the forest.

Mala waited a beat before she nodded slowly, looking down. "Before I first came here, I was told that someone was going in to activate a beacon. It was supposed to connect this world to the other one." She began. "He didn't make it here, though…and when I was—a few months ago, I saw it. Out on the mountain, like you said. I thought it was the beacon that I'd been told of."

"Did you go after it?" Cronus asked curiously.

She nodded, and it was Cronus's turn to be surprised.

"I went into the forest. I stayed quiet and in the dark, and was careful, and I made it through."

"What happened when you got to it?" Takato asked eagerly.

"It was off by the time I got there." Was her answer. "But I camped there for a week, and then it turned on again."

"Well?" Takato asked.

Mala looked from Takato to Cronus. "The light was coming from a short mechanical structure, maybe a meter cubed. I only noticed one button on it, so, I pushed it."

"And?" Cronus asked impatiently.

"It sent up a light, straight up. Almost like a flare, or something. But that was it. It didn't make any connection to the real world, I'm still here."

Nobody spoke, but when Cronus looked at Takato, Takato looked like he made a connection. "When did this happen?"

"A few months ago."

"Can you be more specific?"

"Four, maybe?"

"We all thought it was Yamaki—" Takato murmured, looking down. He then looked up to Mala. "It was you. He didn't connect the real world to the digital world, you did."

"Excuse me?" Mala said defensively.

"Before I came here, my friends and I—our partners all came back. They came back when we were in trouble. They saved us. You saved us." Takato was _staring_ at Mala as he spoke, and Cronus noticed neither of them broke eye contact.

"Thank you." Takato said finally.

Mala didn't say anything in response, probably because she apparently hadn't realized she'd done anything. Finally, she gave him a nod, and looked away. She looked to Cronus, and while he wanted to give her some kind of support, he couldn't. He thought he understood it as much as they did—Takato'd told him of many of the events that had happened before coming there. It was just a little confusing, as Cronus had filled in some of the blanks himself, and apparently he'd done it incorrectly.

"So the beacon really did work." Cronus said to nobody in particular.

"It did." Takato answered.

"Do you think it still works?" Cronus asked.

When Takato didn't answer, Mala must have realized that the question was directed at her, and she shrugged weakly.

"I don't know. I had no idea it even worked in the first place."

Cronus saw Takato look to him, and Cronus looked back. Takato spoke. "I want to go to it."

"You can't!" Mala almost shouted.

"Why not?" Takato answered.

"It's too dangerous. There's even more monsters now than there were before." She protested.

"Don't you want to get out of here?" Takato asked her loudly.

"Of course I do!" She said indignantly. "But we don't even know if the beacon still works, or if anyone will even hear it!"

"And a good way to find out is to sit around here?"

Their argument continued, as Cronus remained silent.

"You don't know what's out there!" She shouted at him. Cronus tried to think if he'd ever heard Mala yell in the time he'd known her. Then again, neither had Takato since the first day that he'd woken up.

"How do you intend to kill those things if they come after you?" Mala asked finally.

When Cronus saw Takato turn to him, Cronus had all the reason he needed to leave.

He heard them call after him, but he kept going.

_A weapon._

It was what they thought of him. He even knew it before, he just didn't let himself believe it until just then. He felt like he finally had some of the answers he was looking for. He wasn't someone people liked, he was nothing but a tool they enjoyed using. Even Takato and Mala thought so.

Cronus didn't run, but he walked quickly towards his house, ignoring the calls of his name behind him.

"Cronus?" Takato said to him as he ran to catch up with him. "Cronus, wait."

He felt Takato grab his arm, and yanked it back to himself, but stopped, to listen to what he had to say.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to volunteer you for anything you don't want to do."

"I don't belong here." Cronus said, repeating what he'd been told numerous times from numerous people. "I'm too dangerous. Like one of the monsters."

"We don't think that." Takato said slowly and clearly.

"Doesn't matter." Cronus told him. He then turned and began to walk away. A few steps in, he stopped, and looked to Takato. "We'll leave tonight. Be ready."

--

Takato felt terrible for what his argument with Mala had led to. He had no right to say what he did, and hurt Cronus's feelings the way he did. But Cronus wasn't speaking to him, at least not until they embarked out into the woods.

There were a few hours before dark. Takato didn't need long, though—it's not like he had many possessions to pack. Mala had given him her backpack, for which he was grateful. Takato regretted how he'd yelled at her, too. She'd been exceptionally kind to him since he arrived, and had even made him a few extra shirts and pants in his time there. In it were some bandages and a small knife. Takato couldn't help but feel as he did that day months ago when he went to save Ryo from Valn, when he entered the complex that would wind up to his arrival in this world.

Deciding that he wanted to speak with her before he'd be leaving, he went to speak with Mala. Takato knew that the trip would be dangerous, and that in embarking on it he was putting Cronus in as much danger as himself.

The walk over didn't seem long enough.

"Hi." He said to her.

She beckoned him inside, and he sat on the bed.

"Are you really going to do this?" Mala asked him, pacing around the room

"I need to find a way out of here." He told her. "So does Cronus."

Mala walked gracefully to the wall opposite the bed. She leaned against it, looking at Takato. "Do you think he really hates it here that much?"

"Huh?" Takato asked, confused.

"I'd have thought he—I mean—don't you think there's anything here that he is glad for?"

"Mala what do you m—"

"Are you ready to go?" Cronus said, walking in. Takato turned to Mala, who turned away from them both and wiped her eyes.

"Yeah." Takato said. "Let's get going."

Cronus nodded and led the way out of the room, followed by Takato, who was followed by Mala.

She stood leaning against her house, looking half as uncomfortable as Takato knew she must have felt. He had never thought Mala would have taken it so hard because of her feelings for Cronus, be them romantic or not. Takato looked from Cronus to her, then back again. He spoke when he accepted that neither of them would.

"Mala, we're coming back." Takato told her.

Her eyes still watered, she didn't reply, and went back inside. Takato noticed a wave of guilt rush over Cronus's face, but his resolve was strong as well, and he headed towards the forest, beckoning for Takato.

--

Cronus led the way, Takato a few paces behind him.

"Cronus, I really am sorry. And I'm very grateful for your help." Takato said finally.

"It's okay." He murmured in response.

"Well, I'm still sorry about it. I know that it's been hard for you here."

Cronus ignored the statement, and stayed focused on the job at hand. They weren't quite in the forest yet, though the forest was very visible from the plains they were in the midst of crossing. Still, Cronus was trying to keep himself aware. He was extremely uncomfortable with the idea of leading the trek.

Sure, he was the only person who'd killed some of the monsters. But he had no idea how he did it, and was not comfortable promising that he'd be able to do it again. He felt selfish jeopardizing Takato's life in the mission, but they both wanted to get to the light—to get back to the other world. Mala said she'd made it across the forest safely. Cronus could too, if he was careful enough.

He thought of Mala, and the discussion he'd had with her earlier in the day.

--

"Please don't do this." She'd begged him.

"I have to. We don't deserve to be stuck here. Not you, not Takato, and not me." Had been his response.

"It's dangerous. Please, just—"

"Mala, I need to tell you something." He interrupted. She stopped talking, and waited eagerly. "When we get to the beacon—when we send out a signal, I mean…I'm leaving. I'll escort Takato out of the forest, and to the plains, but after that I'm leaving."

Mala looked devastated. He could tell she was trying not to cry, and it hurt him to see it. "Where will you go?"

"Anywhere but here." He said, hurt. "I've seen the way everyone here looks at me. The way they talk about me. I can't stay. I can't hear it anymore."

Cronus had then returned to his house for some preparations. He didn't have any possessions, so he didn't have to worry about packing. He had no idea _where_ he'd go. He just knew that he'd see Takato through the trip safely, and then he'd find somewhere. He'd find his own way home.

--

Cronus knew he'd miss Mala, but figured it was for the best. He liked her and all, but he never thought about her the way that she seemed to have been thinking about him.

"Any more dreams?" Takato asked at some point, breaking the silence.

"Hmm?" Cronus mumbled, somewhat surprised.

"Have you had any more?"

"Nothing new." Cronus admitted.

_The Gatomon wants bread._

Cronus hated the silences. Things had become very uncomfortable for everyone since that day's fight. At least they wouldn't have to worry about him after that day.

"When we get back, do you know where you'll go?" Takato asked.

Cronus sighed silently enough for Takato not to have noticed. He hated thinking about it, but he didn't blame Takato for bringing it up, as it was a perfectly legitimate question.

"No, I don't." he admitted.

"Well, if you need a place, you can always stay with my fam—"

Takato was cut short by something striking him across the chest and knocking him backwards.

Cronus spun to see one of the monsters, barely visible in the dark. It was humanoid, with one arm thick at the shoulder and thinning towards the end becoming a sharp point, and the other arm was maybe thirty inches in diameter, and remained a similar width throughout. The monster stood about eleven feet tall, was a green-black color, and had nothing resembling a face. Its skin looked mossy and wet, but not slimy.

"Takato!" Cronus called as he saw the boy fall to the ground. Cronus was terrified. But he suddenly felt secure when he saw the red light shining through his pant pocket. What he wasn't expecting was to remain conscious, or at least aware of what happened when it happened again.

The creature swung one tree-trunk-thick arm clumsily at him, which Cronus ducked under, grabbed, and twisted, causing it to howl as a loud cracking sound was heard. It flailed wildly, forcing him to let go of it, before swinging it back at him again. Cronus realized the second assault was a diversion to distract him from the sharper limb that was coming in from his right. Cronus ducked it promptly, and jumped back when he saw the creature scream out in pain. He looked to its side to see that Takato had gotten up, and driven a knife into its side.

It turned to Takato and brushed him aside easily. Cronus battled the creature for several minutes—he'd ordered Takato to stay back so that he didn't have to worry about him. The knife was more than Cronus had been expecting. During the fight, Cronus moved gracefully and quickly. He didn't _know_ what he was doing, but he was definitely remembering that he knew how to fight.

Cronus began to get frustrated with the creature's refusal to die, and finally drove the knife fully into its head. He could feel resistance as it penetrated what Cronus assumed was its skull, but he drove it in, and after a hideous noise, it fell to the ground, and ceased movement.

Of the two boys there, Takato was the one who was panting for breath. Cronus was barely phased, and was more annoyed than tired.

--

"Let's keep moving." Cronus told him.

"What in the hell just happened?" Takato asked him.

Takato saw Cronus roll his eyes and turn to continue forward.

"Cronus, come on, how did you do that?" he asked again.

"I don't know." Cronus answered a little unbelievably.

"You don't know?" Takato said, a little irritated.

"That's right." Cronus told him, still walking. "Can we please keep moving?"

Takato wasn't ready to let this go. "What's that in your hand?"

Takato knew that he'd hit a nerve, as he saw Cronus stop, and look to whatever it was. As Cronus turned to face him, he kept his hand, and whatever the object was, at his back.

"It's none of your business."

"Cronus, come _on_." Takato had been edging his way towards him during the time that his back was turned, and was within reaching distance of him. Takato could grab it from him, if he was quick enough about it.

When Cronus didn't answer, it was enough of a reason for Takato to take the situation into his own hands, and dove for Cronus, knocking him off balance, and the object free. Cronus was the one to snatch it back from the ground, but not before Takato got a look at what it was.

Even in the dark, he recognized it as his D-Arc. _His_ D-Arc. Red and white, the familiar weight of it, and he even recognized some of the scratches on it.

"Where did you find that?" Takato asked Cronus very seriously. Takato knew that it _was_ his. But he'd left it back in the real world. Back in his home.

_How could Cronus have taken it from there?_

Cronus didn't answer again, but instead held it over his chest protectively.

"Give me it." Takato demanded.

"…No."

"You stole that from me!" Takato shouted.

"No, I didn't!" Cronus protested angrily.

"I want it back!"

"I'm not letting go of it!" Cronus said loudly.

"Cronus!"

"No…I need it!" Cronus still sounded powerful, but Takato thought he was breaking.

"I said give it to me!" Takato barked.

"It's _mine!_" Cronus suddenly screamed, and as Takato went to grab the D-Arc, Cronus tightened his grip. In that moment that Takato's hand touched the D-Arc, even though it was Cronus who held on to it, it suddenly whirred to life and emit a blinding red light.

Takato welcomed it, as it had been over a year since he felt it—back during the battle with the D-Reaper, and his adventures in the digital world.

"Takato!" Cronus asked, terrified, the light overwhelming them both. "What's happening to m—"

But what took Takato by surprise was when he felt the light push him away, rejecting _him_, and sending him flying forcefully backwards. Takato hit his head hard on a tree, which he was actually grateful for, because what happened next he couldn't have predicted.

Cronus screamed as his body twisted and changed, and Takato struggled to his feet to help him, to get the D-Arc out of his hands.

His head was sore, and he was dizzy, but he made it to Cronus, only to be thrown back from him. Takato saw Cronus reach for him pleadingly. Takato couldn't help but stare as Cronus became less and less like himself, his ears lengthening and taking a crooked shape, his skin darkening and reddening, his arms and legs taking disproportionate lengths and widths. Takato clenched his eyes shut helplessly as he gave up hope that he'd be able to help—

—it wasn't until the agonizing sounds stopped that Takato heard the most comforting thing he could have expected.

"Takatomon?" a familiar voice asked.

Takato's eyes shot open at the voice, and, contrary to his expectation that it was a hallucination, Guilmon stood a few feet away from him, where Cronus had been.

_Gatomon wants bread. No. Takatomon wanted bread._

Takato couldn't even move as he allowed his mind to catch up with his eyes, and register what had just happened. He only turned his gaze from his friend when he heard one of the bushes behind him move—though when he turned to it, whatever had caused the movement had gone.

"Guilmon?" Takato asked, nervously.

"Yes, Takatomon?" Guilmon asked innocently.

Takato felt tears well up in his eyes as he ran to his partner and threw his arms around him.

"Guilmon, I missed you so much!" he said joyfully.

"I missed you too, Takatomon." Guilmon said as affectionately as ever. "But what's going on?"

"You don't remember?" Takato asked, pulling away.

"The last thing I remember was I was sitting with Jeri. She was asleep, but she wasn't snoring, like you do. I might have fallen asleep too, but I woke up here."

_He doesn't remember. He doesn't remember being human._

"Guilmon, do you know where we are?"

Takato's partner sniffed the air, and looked around curiously. He sniffed the ground, and then looked at Takato.

"This is the digital world."

_Knew it._

"Guilmon, try to remember exactly how you got here, okay? Think hard." Takato asked.

"Um, okay." Guilmon closed his eyes, and Takato looked eagerly. He saw his partner's jaw quiver for a moment before the red light overwhelmed Guilmon. Takato couldn't see through it, but when the light cleared, Guilmon was Cronus again.

"Cronus?" Takato asked.

_What the hell's going on?_

Cronus, however, looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"Takato?" Cronus asked back.

"What do you remember?"

Cronus looked him seriously, straight in the eye. "I remember everything."

The manner in which Cronus spoke made Takato nervous, but Cronus soon spoke again.

"I'm your partner. I'm Guilmon, aren't I?"

Takato couldn't contain his happiness, and burst into a fit of laughter. No wonder Takato was so comfortable around Cronus. He was too happy to wonder about how, or why. He had his friend with him.

"Takato, can we go back to the village? I need to think on some things. I promise I'll take you to the beacon soon. I just need to—"

"Of course we can." Takato answered. "But one thing…what do I call you?"

"It doesn't matter." Cronus answered.

Takato could now _see_ his partner in him. But he also saw that Guilmon had grown. He was human. He was different. He'd become Cronus.

"Cronus it is, then."

The walk back was anything but silent. Cronus actually seemed happy. Takato knew he'd been worried about his life before his memory loss—worried about whether or not he had friends. Now he could rest easy—he did. From what Cronus told him, he got pulled back to the digital world at the same time Takato did. Takato suggested that it might have been because they were partners, but Cronus said that he could feel the other Tamers' partners being pulled in as well, but he couldn't feel them anymore.

"I don't get why I'm human." Cronus said.

"I wish I had an answer for it, too." Takato replied, looking at Cronus as if he'd only seen him once or twice before then.

Cronus shifted uncomfortably. "Hey, cut it out!"

"Do you realize that your ears are like ten times smaller now than when you're Guilmon?" Takato noted.

Cronus laughed. "Yeah, thanks for that." He snickered sarcastically.

For the time, Takato didn't even care about how his friend had undergone such a transformation. He'd be curious soon enough, he knew it, but for the time, he just wanted to bask in the fact that something good had happened to him.

Finally, they approached the village, and Takato was glad to be back.

"Guil—er, Cronus?" Takato started.

"Yeah?"

"What are we going to tell the others?"

Cronus didn't answer, and Takato looked at him. Cronus was staring ahead at something, and his eyes were widening.

"Cronus! Takato!" a familiar female voice called desperately.

Takato looked in horror. What he saw were the villagers, who were calling out at them angrily. Being restrained was Mala, who was struggling to get away from them. At the head of the mob was Noria, who was indicating Cronus fiercely.

"It was him! He's one of the monsters!"

--

Hope you enjoyed, review if you did.

-N


	7. Confessions, Cooperation, & the Cavalry

--

If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap.

If you want happiness for a day, go fishing.

If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune.

If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody.

- Chinese Proverb

--

Thanks for all the support, everybody who reviewed chapter 6. I was scared nobody'd like the twist with Cronus. I hope you enjoy this one!

-N

--

"I saw it! Cronus is one of the monsters!" Noria repeated.

_Oh shit_.

Takato froze up as he watched them advance. There were a few dozen of them. He could barely hear Cronus try to explain to them what had happened, and Cronus was right next to him. Takato looked frantically through the crowd to see Mala, but he only got a glimpse of her before she was overwhelmed by the mob. One of them grabbed Cronus's arm, and Takato saw Cronus jerk it back in response. Immediately after, six more arms grabbed at him, and then four more.

_Noria must have followed us. She thinks Guilmon's one of the monsters. She thinks _Cronus _is one of the monsters._

Seeing as how the village was not listening to Cronus's or his own protests, Takato decided to try to give his partner a better fighting chance, and reached into his pocket and produced his D-Arc and touched it to Cronus's hand in hopes that he'd be able to revert to Guilmon and defend himself, but to no avail. Takato had also hoped that Cronus would at least be able to repel them in the same way that he had repelled the monster. But he didn't change. Takato had at least expected Cronus to fight them off as he had the real monster, but something told him that it wouldn't happen. And it didn't.

"Takato!" Cronus called as more people grabbed him and pulled at him violently.

"Get off of him!" Takato shouted, swatting the advancing mob away. The crowd immediately began to go after Takato at that time, starting with someone grabbing him around the waist. Takato spun out of it and swung his elbow into the face of the man who'd done it, followed with a kick between the legs of another who was fast approaching. But all too soon, Takato, too had been removed from the fight. He could barely see through the crowd that moved as one, but he struggled to see if Cronus and Mala were all right. But he couldn't.

Takato struggled fiercely, until he received a strong punch to the stomach by a large man, who then grabbed him from behind and covered his mouth. He tightened his grip as Takato flailed, but proceeded to drag him after the mob. Takato had no choice but to succumb to his captor and see what the village's intentions were.

The mob moved towards the center of the village, with Takato and his captor immediately behind. Takato managed to turn his head to the right just enough to see Mala in a very similar predicament, who shot Takato a look of confusion and terror that only took a moment to communicate. Takato tried not to look into her eyes and to remain focused.

_She has even less of an idea what's going on than I do._

They eventually arrived at a house Takato had walked by many times, but when _everyone_ began to enter, Takato began to wonder its purpose. Four dozen people shouldn't be able to fit into any of those shacks. But when Takato's captor pulled _him_ inside, Takato saw that it was empty except for a spiraling dirt ramp that led down. Takato didn't move as he was forced down, and at the bottom, he saw that Cronus had been thrown into a cell. Takato looked to the boy's face and saw blood above his ear, that was running down his cheek. Cronus himself looked dizzy, and struggled powerfully not to fall over. Whenever he stumbled to an edge of the cell, though, he was either punched, kicked, or shoved by the villagers who were nearest.

"Stop it!" Mala screamed.

Mala was next to Takato, and they were both held by large men. Takato looked forward to see that the villagers had complied to her request, and took a step back from Cronus, who fell to the ground weakly. Takato saw the crowd shuffle as Noria forced her way into view, in front of Takato and Mala.

Noria nodded to the men, and they let Takato and Mala go, and pushed them forward. Takato stumbled and fell to his knee, but Mala stood strong.

"Noria, why are you doing this?" Mala asked desperately.

"He's a danger to us, Mala." Noria said flatly. "I told you from day one that he was, but you wouldn't believe me."

"He's _not_ a danger!" Takato protested, standing up. "He killed another of the monsters."

"And _became _one!" Noria hissed at him fiercely.

Mala turned to him. "Takato, what's she talking about?"

Takato didn't have time to explain the situation to Mala, not that he could, as he knew little more than she did. But when Noria turned to Mala as she spoke, Takato lunged forward in anger, tackling her down.

Noria flailed, and kicked Takato in the stomach, who stumbled back and was grabbed by one of the villagers. Noria didn't smirk as she stood up, and looked at him.

"He'll be executed in two days." She said quietly.

Takato's heart sank as he absorbed her words, and looked to Cronus, who he couldn't see through the crowd. As Noria walked past him and up the ramp, the crowd followed her, leaving Takato and Mala alone with Cronus.

Takato looked to Mala, whose eyes welled up with tears. He didn't console her though, but instead ran to the door of the cell, which he tugged at in vain, as it was locked tightly.

"Damn it." Takato cursed.

He looked inside the cell. Cronus was lying in the middle of it.

"Cronus? Cronus!" Takato called at him.

Takato saw the blonde boy's leg move slightly, and then his whole body as he slowly shifted into a sitting position.

"Cronus, are you alright?" Mala asked, approaching the cell.

"No." Cronus said weakly, rubbing his head. "Takato they have it all wrong, I never—"

"I know you didn't hurt any of them, buddy. You've saved them, and me."

"I want to know what's going on." Mala said with a very serious tone in her voice.

Takato looked at her, then to Cronus, then back to her. "Mala, Cronus is a digimon."

"What?" she asked, indignantly. "I've _seen_ digimon, Takato. He's not like one."

"I know he's not like one." Takato looked to him, then back to Mala. "He's gotten his memories back."

Her eyes widened, and she looked to Cronus, who lowered his gaze to the floor.

"He's my partner." Takato said finally. "He's Guilmon."

Mala stared him down. "How could a digimon become a human?"

Takato looked right back at her. It suddenly occurred to him that Mala hadn't explained to him how she knew about the digital world, or anything else related to it.

"Mala," he asked quietly, "Who are you?"

--

"Excuse me?" Mala was shocked. "Who am _I_? _You_'re the one who just _fell_ from the damn sky!"

She moved to the lock and tugged at it to distract herself, but Takato wasn't giving this up.

"And how did you get here? You knew about the digital world. I want to know how? How did you know about the beacon? Are you a Tamer? How do you know so much about this place?"

"I don't know anything about this place!"

"Mala, I want the truth."

She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Takato was being extremely hypocritical. He had told her just as little as she'd told him, and he was accusing her of hiding things. Takato _knew_ that she didn't want to talk about how she got to where she was. It wouldn't help them out, at any rate. Apparently the beacon had been more successful than she'd thought a few months ago when she activated it—Takato said it did indeed connect the digital and real worlds again. But how she got there was none of his business. For all she knew, Takato could be in league with Alex, the bastard who sent her there.

"How about _you_?" she snapped. "How did _you_ get here? And why do you think that Cronus is a digimon?"

"_Ow!_" Cronus suddenly yelped, jumping up, and holding his hand to his head. "Damn it!"

"What happened?" Takato asked.

Cronus uttered a curse, and shook his head a little bit before looking up. "Who's Valn?" Cronus asked suddenly, causing Mala to freeze. She looked at him. She'd _never_ mentioned Alex's name to him.

_How does he know that?_

"What?" Takato asked, which made Mala look at him to see the same look of shock on his face that she had on her's.

"You both know a Valn, right? Who is that?"

"How did you know—" Mala started before dropping to silence.

After sharing a look with each other, Mala was relieved when Takato decided to give the answer. "Remember the monster that was chasing after us? Valn was the scientist who made it."

"He took Ryo?" Cronus asked.

"Yeah, he did."

"I remember you left to go find him, and then you didn't come back."

Takato spoke quietly. "I got trapped on the way out. Rika and Ryo didn't have a chance unless I was behind them."

_Rika?_

Mala's mind tried to make the connection to where she'd heard the name before, but she just couldn't place it. She'd made the more important connection, though.

_So Valn and Takato _weren't_ on the same side._

"You stayed?" Cronus asked, apparently hurt.

After a slight pause, Takato nodded. "After I unlocked the door for them, I got trapped. But I found a portal generator, and I ran it, and then I found myself here."

Mala had been listening very carefully to what Takato had been saying. It was difficult since she could barely remember what Alex looked like, but it sounded like he'd hurt Takato and his friends as much as he'd hurt her.

"He threw me in." Mala suddenly spoke up, causing Takato and Cronus to both look at her. "Alex. Valn, I mean. He's the reason I'm here. There was a portal, and Joseph was—he was supposed to go in, and turn on the beacon. But Valn knocked him out with something, and then he grabbed me, and he—"

A tear rolled down her cheek as she relived the horror, and when she looked up, Takato was looking at her with could very well have been either sympathy or pity.

"I'm sorry." Takato finally said to her.

"It wasn't you fault." Mala said. "I just—it all happened a long while ago."

Telling Takato and Cronus how she wound up there wasn't as difficult as she thought it would be. Contrary to what she'd expected, the information _could_ prove useful, at least if they ever made it back to the real world.

"Valn's dead." Takato said suddenly, as if he was just realizing something. Mala didn't have any reply, but instead nodded. She hated the fact that she didn't sympathize for Alex's death. But he was responsible for her being trapped in the digital world, and, as it sounded, responsible for much chaos and trouble in the lives of Takato and his friends.

As for Cronus, Mala believed it. It explained how Cronus just _knew_ how to find Takato, and even how he was capable of defeating the monsters, something no human could have hoped to achieve. She'd never considered the possibility that he wasn't human—not that she might not have believed it if she'd considered it, but she never _allowed_ herself to consider it, as she knew it would upset him, and it was the last thing she wanted.

"Cronus, can you break out of here?" Mala asked, trying to change the topics her mind ran through.

Cronus stood and went to the door, and pulled with much effort, but to no avail.

"Doesn't look like." He said, disappointed.

"I honestly didn't expect them to be able to take you." Takato admitted.

Cronus looked to the ground, and returned with a look of both embarrassment and shame. "I couldn't fight back. I tried to, but it just—I don't understand what happened."

Takato just nodded, but he didn't seem to understand what Cronus meant any better than Mala did.

It was Cronus who spoke again. "How long do I have?"

"Noria said two days." Takato said quietly.

"Do we have a plan? Is there anyone here we can get help from?"

Mala lit up. "Not here. But we could sent out a signal from the beacon. Maybe someone in the real world will—"

"The beacon won't go off for another three nights." Cronus interrupted.

Mala thought hard. "Do you think we can talk our way into some more time?"

"We don't have anything she wants." Cronus mumbled.

This time it was Takato who had the idea. "Our digivice." He said to Cronus. "We can promise it to her if she holds off for some more time."

He looked at Cronus for support, but when Cronus didn't answer, Takato turned to Mala for the support he was looking for.

"It's worth a shot." She admitted.

Takato walked to her and gave her his D-Arc. Mala accepted it carefully, before walking hastily up the stairs and out of the building to speak with Noria, alone. But not until she made a stop by her house.

--

"He's no danger." Mala pleaded.

"He's a _monster_, Mala."

"Come _on_, Noria, think about it. What has he done to hurt us? Any of us? We _owe_ him for defeating some of those things out there. You know that they've been getting closer and closer lately."

"You mean since he arrived?" Noria asked defiantly.

"We don't know that he has any connection with those, and we don't have a reason to assume so." Mala retorted. "The only reason to mention Cronus in the same breath as the monsters is to say how he saved us from them."

Noria sighed and closed her eyes, before tugging at her hair anxiously. "Mala, I know you care about him, so I'd like you to know that his execution wasn't my decision."

Mala found herself believing her. Noria was pretty rude to Cronus, but then again, she was rude to most people.

"I _had_ to tell them what I saw. Him changing into that—thing, I mean." Noria continued. "You can't blame me for that."

_Sure I can_.

Mala knew she shouldn't, though. However little personal relationships meant to Noria, she _was_ trying to do the right thing, and Mala did respect her for it. She didn't have to like it, though.

"You were at the _head_ of the mob." Mala noted out loud.

Noria's head sunk to the ground. "I had to tell them." She repeated. "I didn't get much time to think about it until the crowd cleared. The whole village wants him gone." Noria finished.

_I don't._

"Then make him leave." Mala whispered.

"I already suggested that. They're scared he'll come back."

"I need you to hold the execution, then." Mala declared.

"I don't think I'll be able to—"

"I've brought a bargaining chip." Mala went on, holding up her offering.

"What's this?"

"You should have seen it. Cronus said it was a part of what happened to him back in the forest."

Noria inspected the D-Arc carefully, but eventually nodded in acceptance. "I'll get you as long as I can."

"I need at least two extra days." Mala said flatly.

"Why?" Noria questioned.

Mala didn't answer, but returned to Takato and Cronus back at the cell to await the response of the village.

"You know where I'll be when a decision has been made."

--

Mala walked down the steps to the cell, and found Cronus leaning against the wall of it, with Takato leaning against the bars. They both perked up as they saw her approach.

"Well?" Takato asked eagerly.

"Noria's talking to them. She says she'll get us as much time as she can." Mala reported.

She heard Takato mutter something nasty about Noria, but Mala chose to ignore it. She wasn't sure whose side exactly Noria was on, but wanted to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Mala walked straight to Takato, and handed him his D-Arc. "Here."

Takato looked surprised. "You didn't need it?"

Mala broke eye-contact. "No, I didn't."

In fact she hadn't needed it—she'd made a stop by her house and given Noria _her_ black-and-white D-Arc, and prayed that it had been too dark to see the red on Takato's. It had been a difficult item for Mala to part with—it was her last memento of Tigremon—but she knew it was for a good cause if it could help save Cronus's life.

"Okay, so say we send out a signal." Mala started. "Then what?"

The three shared looks with each other.

"We hope someone answers the call." Cronus said hopefully. When Noria had returned from her spying, and Mala had been taken by villagers who knew she would oppose the idea, Noria had made it sound like Cronus was capable of tearing down walls. But there he stood, the same innocent goofball she knew he was.

Takato opened his mouth to—what Mala assumed was, for some reason—to argue, but was suddenly cut short by Cronus screaming.

"What's wrong!" Takato and Mala both asked.

Cronus continued to scream as he dropped to the floor and began to writhe on the ground, his hands covering his ears.

Mala looked to Takato for him to do something, but his expression showed that he was as clueless as she was.

He continued to scream for another ten seconds before he stopped, but was left breathing heavily, and apparently in some physical pain.

"Cronus!" Takato called.

"Are you alright!" Mala asked desperately.

Cronus didn't curse as he had the last headache. "The beacon will work." He said flatly.

"How do you know?" Takato challenged.

"I don't know how. But I know it'll work." Was Cronus's answer that wasn't extremely encouraging for either Mala or Takato. "It _will_ work."

Mala wanted to question for more of an assurance, and she could tell that Takato wanted to as well, but said nothing, not to take away Cronus's hope.

The three sat, discussing what their course of action would be. They concluded that Mala and Takato would both go into the forest. If the deal came through, they'd have to trust Noria to hold up on it. Takato was more than a little uncomfortable with the idea, but Mala and Cronus affirmed him that Noria wasn't one to lie about something like that.

It was a half hour of mostly awkward silences before Noria arrived.

"I've gotten you some time." She said as she entered.

"How much?" Takato asked.

"Five days."

_Just enough_.

If the beacon was to go off in four nights, then they could be back in time. If it worked.

_It will work._

Mala paused before she smiled as she realized that she found Cronus's hope strangely infectious.

--

Takato and Mala had waited three days before they departed. They'd left very early on the day they did, the night of which was predicted that the beacon would be active. Takato had spent most of him time preparing for the trip—he'd brought some knives and bandages with him, and anything he could find that could be used in defense or to run from the monsters. Mala, however, had spent most of her time worrying about Cronus.

Takato had been pretty shocked to hear that Valn was responsible for Mala's situation. He wondered how many other people in the village were connected to Valn in some way.

They made sure to take the same path that Cronus and Takato had taken before, and stayed very alert of their surroundings as they spoke. He hadn't pressed Mala for many more details, but did volunteer some of his own situation. He told her of how Valn had used a virus to create a monster that hunted one of his friends. And how another of his friends was infected by the same virus.

He told her about Jeri, the girl who he'd last seen unconscious almost two months ago on a hospital bed. He told her about Guilmon, the adventures that they'd had together, and how happy Takato had been to see that he was still around.

"So how'd you get to be this way?" Takato asked suddenly.

"Huh?" Mala sounded confused.

"Helping me out when you had no idea who I was. Same with Cronus. Volunteering for a dangerous mission that might not work—how'd you get like this? I'm curious."

"Well, how did you?" Mala countered.

Takato hadn't really thought about it, but spoke as he figured it out. "My friends had always looked to me to lead. I don't know why, either. My friend Henry was way more mature than I was when the whole situation started. So I guess I just had to learn to do what was right when I had people counting on me." Takato was pretty satisfied with his answer. He still felt the shame of all the lies he'd told his friends back when he was helping Yamaki study Valn's monster, but ignored it.

"My partner was killed by the D-Reaper's agents." Mala suddenly volunteered.

Takato looked at her and reflected silently. In that moment all he could think of was Jeri, and how hard it was for her to go through. But Mala went on sorrowfully. "Tigremon and me—we were fighting them off, and we were doing pretty well. But we looked up, and we saw a Sakuyamon charging towards the D-Reaper itself."

_Rika._

Takato hadn't thought that Mala had really been a Tamer, let alone part of the D-Reaper battle.

"There were agents coming in from behind her." Mala continued, not looking directly at Takato. "They were moving fast. And Tigremon jumped up to protect her. He took out the first one, but the second one—"

"I'm so sorry." Takato interrupted.

"When I'd stopped screaming, I realized that I'd dropped my weapon, and I was surrounded. Backed against a wall. I thought I was going to die, but—but a Justimon came, and he saved me."

_Yes, that would be just like him._

Mala looked confused, but continued. "But then, he—the Justimon—he turned into two things. A boy and a digimon. He'd saved my life, and had acted like it was no big deal. He said he was just doing what was right. It was all I could think about for the longest time. They both left very shortly after they'd saved me, but I kept thinking about it. I'd never actually been inspired by anyone before then. So I promised myself I'd do what was right whenever I could. I guess that's why I'm this way. Because of him."

"Ryo _does_ tend to have that effect on people." Takato admitted.

"You know him!" Mala was stunned.

"Both of them." Takato said, still walking. "The Sakuyamon was my friend Rika. The Justimon—well, the guy, was Ryo."

"Ryo—you mean the one who was infected by Valn?"

Takato nodded. "Yeah."

"Is he okay?"

"Valn had kidnapped him shortly after I found out he was infected. By the time I found Valn's lab, Ryo was cured of it, but locked up. Rika had gone after him too, and when we were all escaping, the building started to come down. And it sounds like you know how far underground this thing was. I told Rika and Ryo some lie about having to destroy the virus once and for all, and ran to the bottom of the complex. Told them I'd meet them up top." Takato was reliving the events as he retold them to her. "Valn had locked the building down. The only way to open the doors for them to escape was from the bottom. When I opened it for them, I got trapped. But then I found a portal, and I took it. That's how I got here."

Mala nodded solemnly. "Are they alright?"

Takato sighed quietly. "I don't know. I got the exit open, but I have no idea if they got there. We were really far underground."

Mala looked upset. "When we get back, will you thank him for me?"

Takato smiled at her. "I'm sure you'll be able to thank him yourself."

Takato had found a new respect for Mala. He had never guessed that she'd saved one of his friends, and been saved by another. As they continued through the forest, he thought of how things might have been different if she'd met up with him and his friends before going to the digital world—if she'd been part of their group.

The trip was long and tiring, but they arrived at the location of the beacon that afternoon, and camped out until night. Takato knew they both had plenty they could speak of, but neither did—they both sat anxiously and waited for the light to flash on.

Takato was resting his eyes.

"Takato?" Mala whispered.

Before he opened them, he could see that something was starting to give off light, as he saw a bright red from underneath his eyelids. As he slowly opened them, he saw that the source was, as he'd expected, the bright blue he'd seen for weeks. It was pulsing on and off just as it had before.

"So what do we do?" Takato asked Mala, who he knew had done this before.

"When I did it, I walked over and touched it." She said, not taking her eyes off of it.

Takato slowly and fearfully walked to the light, and when he got close enough, he could see that the source of it was a small blue orb the size of his fist.

_Here goes._

He reached forward and put his hand on it. The light grew even more blinding than it was, and Takato slowly backed up, and moved Mala behind him to protect her as best he could.

But when the beacon grew brighter, the light it gave off was sent directly at Takato and Mala, and they could barely see at all. He squinted and held his hand over his face and managed to see a figure emerging from the light.

Takato knew that it could be help, and what was happening was exactly what they'd been hoping for, but he still found himself terrified. He grit his teeth and braced for some kind of pain—

—until he heard the figure speak.

"Takato…?" a familiar male voice asked in disbelief, stepping out of the light.

Takato squinted past the bright blue light that silhouetted the slim figure, but when the portal closed and Takato's eyes refocused, he found himself staring into the face of Henry Wong.

"Henry!" Takato asked, shocked. "How'd you get here?"

"I was able to open a portal when a massive amount of energy was sent to the real world from this place." Henry said, looking around. "Who's this?" he asked, looking to Mala.

"Her name's Mala." Takato answered.

"It's nice to meet you. My name's Henry Wong." Henry said, extending his hand, which she took carefully before shaking. When they let go, Henry retuned his stare to Takato. "Takato, how did you get here?"

Takato stifled a laugh. "I don't know where to begin."

"Why don't you start from the beginning?" Mala suggested carefully.

"Well, when the lab collapsed, I found a portal generator. It dropped me a few hundred feet that way." Takato said, indicating a direction.

"So the portal opened up in the _air_?" Henry asked, dumbfounded.

Takato winced as he recalled. "Yeah. That one uh…" he stammered before he grinned. "That sucked."

"Sounds like." His friend murmured. A moment passed. "Takato?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you survive?"

Takato stopped smiling at the question as he seemed to think very deeply.

_Cronus._

--

Wooh! Now we're getting somewhere.

Please review if you enjoyed it!

Another thing—by the end of the story, would you rather have Takato's partner to stay in the digital world as Guilmon, or return to the real world with Takato as Cronus?

'Til next time,

-N


	8. Scuffed Slate

--

Thanks for all the nice reviews, here's the next chapter!

-N

--

"In doing what we ought we deserve no praise,

because it is our duty."

- Joseph Addison

--

"It sounds like you've been keeping busy, then." Henry murmured in response to Takato bringing him up-to-date. Mala was several paces ahead, as she'd volunteered to lead the way so they could catch up. Over the walk, Takato had repeated several times how relieved he was that Henry had been there to answer the beacon. Henry just put on a smile and admitted that he hadn't expected it.

It was still night, so they had a full day to get back, but they still hurried. Henry had been very concerned about the situation with Guilmon, and—not that he didn't believe Takato—wanted to see it for himself. Henry wasn't sure what to say to Takato—Henry was extremely glad to see his friend was alright, especially since Henry—and everyone else had thought Takato had been dead for two months.

Henry was, at first, surprised that Takato hadn't asked about everyone back in the real world. He wondered if Takato had even known what everyone had assume of his fate.

_I'm sure he's pieced it together._

Henry began to wonder what he himself would do in Takato's situation—knowing that his friends and family had believed he died, and stopped looking for him—

—Henry suddenly realized that Takato hadn't been asking about anyone. He didn't know about Jeri, and was scared to hear something he didn't want to.

"She's fine, you know." Henry said suddenly.

He looked to his friend, and saw him visibly smile as he sighed with relief. Henry too, smiled, glad to be the messenger.

"And Rika and Ryo?" Takato asked hopefully after a moment.

_Knew it._

"They're fine. They made it out." They'd told Henry and the others about the escape from the lab. "They said you saved them."

Takato scratched the back of his head, obviously more than a little embarrassed. "Yeah. They found out about that, huh?"

"Yup." Henry said with a small smile. The smile faded, though. "Ryo had some nice things to say at your funeral."

Takato's eyebrows raised a little bit, causing Henry to wonder if Takato _did_ know that everyone thought he was dead.

Henry realized that he wouldn't really judge Takato if he _didn't_ figure it out. He clearly had a lot to occupy himself with.

"Oh." Takato said in reply.

"Yeah." Was all Henry could think of to say. The funeral had been huge, but Henry didn't feel like telling his friend of his own funeral anymore.

"What about you? What have you been doing for this time?"

--

Henry hung up the phone and let out a sigh. He blinked, and with great effort, opened his eyes again afterwards. He was so very tired—but he had too much to do, and too many expectations. Sleep didn't fit into the schedule.

"Henry?" his father asked, peeping his head around the corner.

Henry almost slammed his laptop closed, but managed to do it without making a sound. "Yes?" He replied, trying not to sound so drained.

"It's almost time for school. Just making sure you're up."

Henry would have beat himself with a hammer if he had one nearby, but he didn't, so he couldn't. He smiled at his father. "I'm awake, I'll be downstairs in a few minutes."

"Okay, breakfast is ready." His dad said with a smile before leaving.

_Too close_.

Henry turned back to his laptop and opened the lid, and felt his heart break when he saw that it was off. He looked to the plug, and saw that it wasn't connected. He anxiously rebooted it to see how much work he had lost. The loading screen seemed to take forever. He opened his word processor and tried to load the file from his USB drive.

CANNOT OPEN FILE: DATA MAY BE CORRUPT

He felt his heart break when he realized he'd lost about a week's worth of work. With a sigh, he formatted the drive, put the computer and plug in his backpack, and went downstairs to have breakfast with his family.

--

"What about you? What have you been doing for this time?" Takato had asked.

"Working, mostly." Henry admitted.

"And what about everyone else?" Takato asked him.

Henry again let out a sigh—he really didn't know where to begin. Things had been downright chaotic since Takato had died. He sighed.

"Takato, everything's been—" Henry sighed again, then hurried his pace to make sure that Mala was still close enough. "Well, for starters, Ryo's gone…"

"Gone?" Takato asked in disbelief.

Henry nodded. "Well, not _your_ kind of gone, but he left Shinjuku. We tried looking for him, but we couldn't find anything. Phone numbers or anything. And he either changed his e-mail address, or is ignoring us."

"Why?"

Henry really didn't feel like getting into why. "We don't know exactly." Henry wasn't _completely_ lying. He _did_ know that Ryo left—in part—because he felt guilty that Takato had died. But if he told Takato, then Takato'd be feeling guilty, and that really wouldn't help with their situation. He changed the subject. "Rika wasn't too happy that he'd left."

"I imagine she wouldn't be." Takato murmered. "Is she okay?"

Henry let out a scoff. "You remember Old Rika?" Old Rika was how Takato and Henry had always referred to Rika back when they met her. Back when she was untrusting, mean, and driven.

"Yeah?" Takato asked, not sounding like he understood what Henry was implying.

"Yeah." Henry just repeated. After Takato looked at him, Henry knew that he got it. Rika had retreated from most of her friendships after Ryo left. She still talked to Henry occasionally, and Jeri as well, but she was different. Henry had even spoken to Jeri about it, and Jeri, too, had told him that she noticed Rika was always very distant. Henry wasn't one to talk, though—he knew for certain that he had been quieter than normal in the weeks that passed.

"Kazu and Kenta have both changed, too." Henry continued. "They barely hang out with each other anymore."

He looked ahead to the brown hair that belonged to Mala, which swayed as she walked.

"So she's been here a year, huh?" Henry commented.

"Yeah." Takato responded. "It must have been hard for her. Nobody believed her that this is the digital world."

Henry nodded. "There are humans, you said?"

"A few dozen of them, yeah. In the village. They didn't believe her, and they've got Guilmon."

Henry thought a moment. "Mala?" he called. She turned with a small smile, and stopped as she waited for them to catch up.

"Thanks for giving us some privacy to talk." Henry said sincerely. There really wasn't anything that he had to hide from her, but she had offered to lead the way so that they might speak confidentially.

"It's no problem."

"Well, it's still appreciated." Henry said genuinely. "What can you tell me about the villagers?"

"What do you mean?"

"Their behavior, attitudes—are they hostile? Violent?"

"No, not that I can think of. Not before they took Cronus, I mean."

_Cronus? Right. Guilmon._

"Hmm…" Henry murmured. "Takato said that you told him they have no memory of the real world?"

"That's right." She said with a nod. "It's just the three of us, plus Cronus."

"Cronus had memory loss too, though, right? But he was able to at least remember that the real world existed, though. Right?"

"Yes." Mala said with a nod.

"Do you think they could be digimon?" Henry suggested.

Mala actually stopped at this, and her eyes widened. Takato, too, looked contemplative, and Henry could tell that they were both trying to see if the theory matched up with their memories. Henry began walking to encourage them to move as well—they needed to get back to the village as soon as possible.

"I guess it's possible." Takato said finally. "If Guilmon was turned to a human, I mean. Why not them, too?"

"It _would_ explain why they didn't believe in the real world…" Mala said quietly.

"Because they were never _there_." Henry finished for her. Henry was very eager to see Guilmon, or Cronus, or whoever it was with his own eyes. He had a lot of things to determine—why Guilmon was changed, or at least how—how he was able to fight, how he found Takato—how he knew that someone would answer the beacon. He forced himself to be patient, though.

"You're pretty useful to have around." Mala said with a smirk.

"Thanks." Henry said it flatly, but upon considering it, it had been a long time since he'd felt appreciated.

--

Henry sat in the library of his school working away at his laptop. He wasn't supposed to be there—he was cutting his classes to catch up on the work he destroyed that morning. All his teachers liked him enough not to inform his parents that he wasn't present; and when most students cut class, they didn't go to the library, so it was almost deserted.

_This is going to take me forever._

It had been three weeks since Takato's funeral. Henry had grieved, as all the Tamers had. He was forcing himself to move on after losing a close friend, however, and was doing a decent job at it. He missed his friend, but was almost resentful of the mess that had happened as a result of Takato getting himself killed.

Henry's workload was repulsive. He'd promised himself he'd work on tracking down Ryo, if only to know that he's safe. The Monster Makers had enlisted his help in going through some new code, as had Yamaki at Hypnos. He'd had to babysit his little sister, which, unfortunately, did _not_ involve sitting in one place—she needed to be entertained. He was working on a project of his own as well that he hoped would give him some release. His stress had caused him to be short with his sister, and he felt terrible when she started to cry. Henry had been trying very hard to keep control of himself, but he was finding it exceedingly difficult.

_Latitude 35.6784…no, .6788…_

Henry found himself distracted as he heard the door open. A quick glance revealed a girl entering in a pair of dark blue jeans, a red tanktop, and a matching blue jean jacket. It was Rika, hair let down, and earphones blocking stupid people from bothering her.

Henry raised a hand and waved to her, and she nodded in response. She sat down at the closest table to her, which happened to be a seat rather far from where Henry was sitting. Had he not been working, he probably would have been offended.

Rika had changed after Takato had died and Ryo had left. She never spoke of anything personal to anyone, and the only person—that Henry knew of, at least—that she talked to was him. And it was typically just casual conversation. She'd become as hostile as she used to be, and had been in more than a few fights. Henry just assumed that it was her way of grieving with the changes in her life lately, and let her do what she had to, to adapt.

A half hour had passed until Henry was once again distracted by the ringing of a cell phone.

_Who the hell leaves these things on in a libr—_

Henry found himself staring in the direction of Rika. She pulled her feet off the chair to access her pocket as the librarian approached her and hushed her audibly.

Rika pulled off her earphones and then reached to take her phone from her pocket with one hand, and offering the librarian a middle-finger with the other. Henry snickered silently at the scene. He felt guilty watching Rika as she spoke on the phone, as if he was eavesdropping. He was glad he was paying attention, though, when he saw Rika's expression change to shock.

"Okay." She concluded. "I'll be right over."

Henry called over to her. "Rika? Everything alright?"

Rika was scrambling to gather all her things, clearly _not_ alright. She stopped to look at him when she spoke.

"That was Mr. Kato." Rika spoke softly. "Jeri's awake."

--

They arrived at the village an hour or so later.

"We'll have to be quiet." Mala had warned Henry. "I don't know how they'll react to you being here."

Henry nodded to her, and asked her to take him to where Guilmon was being held. She took him—with Takato following behind—to a small hut. Henry raised an eyebrow on how tight security could be in a place that looked like that, but when he entered he groaned as he saw the winding stone staircase. At the bottom sat a blonde boy, dressed in a brown long-sleeve shirt, and some jeans.

"Henry!" the boy called out suddenly with a huge smile on his face.

_Oh my _God

"…Guilmon?" Henry asked slowly, knowing full well the answer.

"It's me! I can't believe you're here!"

He_ can't believe what _he's _seeing?_

"You look different." Henry said with a grin.

Guilmon laughed, and shifted around, tugging effortlessly at the bars of his cell. Henry could barely believe it. Hearing it was one thing, but seeing Guilmon then—he looked like an ordinary teenager.

"Guil—Cronus?" Henry asked. "Can I ask you some questions?"

"Um, sure." Cronus said, confused. "Why?"

"Well," Henry told him. "it's clear that you have some enhanced abilities, and we need to know what they are. You might have in you what we need to get you out of here."

"Alright." Cronus accepted. "What would you like to know?"

"Do you remember becoming human?" Henry asked.

"Which time?"

"The first time."

"No, I don't remember that. I just woke up like this."

"Okay. What about the second time?" Henry asked him.

"I was just thinking trying to think of how I got turned into a human the first time, and then it happened again."

"And there was a red light, right? From your digivice?" Henry confirmed.

"Yeah." Takato told him. "It was there when he turned back to Guilmon, then again when he turned to Cronus again."

"Okay." Henry noted. "Have you tried turning back into a digimon? Thinking about it, I mean?"

Cronus nodded to him. "I tried, but it didn't work. The light didn't come."

Henry was basically lost.

_The transformation can apparently _happen_ both ways…why wouldn't it work? Maybe he just can't control it yet. But he doesn't have _time_ to learn how to._

"How did you know about Valn?" Mala suddenly asked.

Henry raised an eyebrow in confusion, but apparently Takato thought it was a worthwhile question as well.

"Yeah, I don't remember telling you about him." Takato said with a realization.

"I'm not sure." Cronus answered honestly. "I could feel you both getting mad, and then I saw all these pictures in my head, and then my head felt like it was hit with something when the name Valn came up."

"What did you see?" Henry asked him cautiously, before Mala or Takato could ask him something.

Cronus looked thoughtful for a moment before he spoke, while looking at Takato. "I saw Jeri." He then turned to Henry. "And you, and Kazu and Suzie and Kenta and Rika and Ryo."

Henry had assumed that he was just remembering things. But that still didn't explain how he knew about Valn. He had a good guess, though, when Cronus then turned to Mala. "And then I saw your mother, then Tigremon, then Justimon, then Joseph. And then I saw Valn, and it hurt."

"How did you know about—how'd you see—" Mala was stammering, completely dumbfounded. Henry, too, was very curious to that. Takato had mentioned that Cronus had seemed intuitive, but there was no implication he could read minds.

"You said you could feel them getting mad?" Henry asked suddenly.

"Right." Cronus said. "When they were yelling."

"What were you yelling about?" Henry asked Takato and Mala.

They looked to each other, but it was Cronus who answered. "This place, and how we got here, and how we plan to get out."

Henry thought it over, but found himself distracted.

--

Henry and Rika stood outside Jeri's hospital room. His palms were sweaty. He looked to Rika—who looked just as anxious—before knocking gently and pushing the door open.

He looked in hopefully, but found not Jeri, but an empty bed, half-covered by a hanging curtain.

"W—what's—" he could hear Rika stammer. Henry turned to her, seeing the shock on her face. Henry was confused as well, but moved his attention to the letter that was in Rika's hand—the letter that Takato had left for Jeri. The letter told Jeri that he was going off to try and save Ryo, and that he might not make it back.

_And he didn't_.

Henry felt guilty that he had read it, but did so in hopes of finding out where Takato had gone.

"Sorry, just a second, I'm trying to change out of this gown thing."

Henry spun around and grinned happily when he saw Jeri's head peeking around the curtain. None of them said anything for the two minutes it took for Jeri to change into her favorite yellow dress, and she stepped out from behind the curtain.

She looked fantastic—she looked like Jeri. Henry hugged her fiercely. "Don't ever do that again." He whispered to her. Jeri was like another little sister to him. If Suzie could grow up to be anything like Jeri, he'd be proud. Rika tapped on Jeri's shoulder next, and took her turn to be hugged. It was the happiest that Henry had felt in a long time.

"Ooh!" Jeri said, snatching the envelope that Rika held. "You brought me a card?"

--

"You can read minds?" Mala asked him bluntly.

"Maybe. I don't think so." Cronus contemplated. "I don't see anything now other than you guys standing here."

Henry decided to test it. He tried not to change his stature, breathing, or anything else physically, but tried thinking of a memory. He settled on when he had to hide Terriermon from everyone, and Suzie was convinced that his partner was a doll, and was dressing him up like one. He recalled the memory as vividly as he could—what he was wearing, what Suzie was wearing, what she was dressing him in—the time of day, the smell of his sister's room, the color of the carpets, the—

—When he noticed Cronus grin, he was convinced that the memories just had to be intense enough.

"Do you think this has anything to do with your transformation?" Takato asked him. "I mean, you're a digimon, and we're in the digital world. You're like, connected to it, right? Could it have something to do with that?"

"Maybe." Cronus shrugged. "Just stop yelling. Please."

_Takato might be on to something._

"Digital monsters draw their energy from the digital world…when they digivolve, they pull in more energy from it." Henry recalled. "When we're here—humans, I mean—we become data."

"But that doesn't explain why this never happened when we were in the digital world before." Takato said skeptically but not hostilely.

"But Cronus is the only one _accessing_ the digital world here. If the other villagers are digimon, but aren't drawing _from_ their world, then it's _all_ open for him to use."

It was his best guess, and it looked to be right.

"So what are you saying?" Cronus asked.

"He means you're a lot more special than we ever thought." Mala told him. It was a nice thing for her to say. Mala seemed like a good person, and she was even cute. But Henry focused his attention back to the task at hand when Takato spoke.

"Can you tell us anything about this place we don't know?" Takato asked.

"Huh?" Cronus asked.

"The village. Try thinking about it. Can you tell where in the digital world we are exactly?"

Henry saw Cronus looked to Mala for a second, but it happened to be the second before she took off her look of fear. When Cronus looked at her, he immediately looked to the floor, then to Takato, then back to the floor. He closed his eyes.

"…We're on an island." He said. "Beyond the mountains, there's just water."

Mala looked to Takato, and he looked back at her, but neither spoke. Cronus went on. "Past the water there's—I'm not seeing anything out th—no! It's the desert where you, Henry and I got hit by that data storm, remember?"

"I remember." Takato said, smiling.

Henry smiled. It had been a long time ago. It had actually been a pretty scary experience, but he still missed the adventures in the digital world. He hadn't realized it until then, but it was a lot simpler than the real world.

--

Henry had stepped outside on Rika's request. He turned the knob as he closed the door so that it wouldn't make a sound. He inhaled sharply, and looked through the mirror.

He could see Rika telling Jeri. The walls were soundproof, so he heard nothing, but he could identify "Takato" from her lips as one of the words she repeated. Rika had been the one who had volunteered to tell Jeri about Takato when she woke up. Henry didn't envy the duty. But he still felt even more terrible than he had before. Not allowing himself to see Jeri cry, he left the hospital, and went back home to work on his project.

--

"Can you see a way back to the real world?" Mala asked suddenly.

He opened his eyes and looked at her for a moment, then squeezed his eyes shut. "…No. I don't see anything."

"Damn." Takato grumbled.

"Henry?" Cronus asked him quietly.

"Yeah?"

Cronus beckoned him closer. Henry was confused, but he complied.

"Can you tell me what's wrong? It might help." Cronus whispered to him.

_What's wrong?_

Henry realized what Cronus had been talking about. He hadn't been thinking of it at all. But he nodded to him, and thought out the events that had led him to the digital world.

--

Henry finished his project four weeks later. The weeks were hard, too—his grades had slipped because of his devotion to it, and his overall lack of sleep. He'd been in touch with Kazu and Jeri—and Rika, once. Jeri was doing alright. She was devastated to hear what had happened to Takato, and what had almost happened to Rika and Ryo. But she was coping. She had apparently learned how to grieve after she lost her mom. And Leomon.

_The poor girl…_

Henry felt guilty that he, too, would be leaving her. He double-checked his program, and when he verified that everything was perfect, he went to Hypnos. His clearance-card was usable round-the-clock, which was made possible by Yamaki, when Henry had told him that he wouldn't be able to help out on regular hours.

He went to the laboratories, which were empty—the workers had all gone home to their families. He sat at the computer—it was Tuesday, and it was around midnight, so he had about two more hours. Henry almost hoped that it didn't work.

The night of Takato's funeral, Henry couldn't sleep, so he went to the Hypnos building—why exactly, he didn't know. He was curious to why the digimon had disappeared, and when he ran a scan, he found an energy emission coming somewhere from the digital world—a place in it that hadn't been explored by him or his friends. After investigating it, he'd found that it was indeed coming from the digital world—programmed in there, but he wasn't sure from where. It didn't matter, though—he thought it could be a way to bring Terriermon back.

But as the weeks went on, his goal changed. Henry found that he couldn't keep up with the mess that were his friends and family, and needed to get away. He sat, then, looking at the pulsing energy, deciding whether or not he should leave a note. He decided against it, and ran the program he worked so hard on.

He was engulfed in a blue light, which he embraced. What made his jaw drop was when he saw Takato standing in front of a cute brown-haired girl.

"Takato…?" he asked, not quite allowing himself to believe it.

"Henry!"

--

"I'm sorry." Cronus said to him afterwards. "That must have been hard for you."

Henry glanced backwards to Takato and Mala, who both clearly wanted to know what they were talking about.

_But they won't._

"It's okay." Henry said, turning back to Cronus. "I think I'm okay now."

--

Well, I hope you enjoyed it. I'll be posting an epilogue in Crescendo soon, as this story is nearly done. Thanks to everyone who's read this far!


	9. Journey's End

Well, this was certainly a longer study break than I planned. Ah, whatever. This story's been fun to write. Thanks to everyone for reading, especially The Light's Refrain, Squirt, Bluesv20, and Takari Freek. Your support was very encouraging; thank you!

-N

--

"It's amazing—in the blink of an eye, you finally see the light,

It's amazing—when the moment arrives, you know you'll be all right."

- Aerosmith "Amazing"

--

Takato was uncertain what Cronus and Henry were discussing, and was even a little annoyed with his feeling that he was being left out-of-the-loop, but he supposed it didn't matter—Henry was doing a better job at putting pieces together than Takato was.

The mind-reading issue puzzled him at first, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense—if all the other villagers are indeed digimon, but don't know it, then they're not drawing upon the digital world's energy, even if they're connected to it. If Guilmon—or Cronus, was connected to that power, and _knew_ it, then he'd be connected to everything and everyone around him. Takato didn't want to suggest it right then, but he highly suspected that if Cronus had that sort of power—or at least access to it—then he might be able to get everyone home. There were a number of reasons he didn't suggest it, though; first was that they still didn't have a plan to get Cronus out of holding so that they could escape. Secondly, if they _did_ escape, where would they go? Cronus said they were on an island—and they didn't have any way of getting across the water. Takato was confident his partner had power, but he didn't know if he could control it enough to use it.

Being connected to everyone, Cronus seemed to be affected by people's minds and emotions.

_He must have been overwhelmed by everyone coming at him before they captured him._

If it had been anyone but Guilmon, Takato would have been much less comfortable with the idea of someone being able to read through his mind if they wanted to.

"If the villagers _are_ digimon, how can we turn them back? Make them remember?" Takato asked.

"Well," Henry said thoughtfully. "Guilmon was cured of it because of your D-Arc. We've seen that they have restorative capabilities—Jeri had used hers once to save Leomon…but not all digital monsters have Tamers to use D-Arcs on them..."

"Before he put me here," Mala added, "Alex mentioned that he'd done something to this place—to this part of the digital world."

"So Valn would be the key to reversing what's been done here." Takato finished. "But he's dead—his monster killed him. And his lab's gone, too…" He added guiltily.

"We might be able to administer a cure somehow once we get back to Hypnos…" Henry suggested. "It might take a while though, since we don't have any of Valn's data."

"But we still don't know exactly how to send people to here—Mala and I both came through a portal generator, but it's broken now. And you couldn't get here until we activated the beacon…" Takato murmured quietly, thinking aloud.

Henry's expression saddened. "That's true."

_We'll deal with that when we have to._

"What about getting back to the real world?" Takato asked.

"That's going to be a problem…" Henry replied somewhat hopelessly.

_Not exactly the response I was fishing for._

"Maybe I can open a portal." Cronus suggested suddenly.

_Now we're talking_.

"Can you do that?" Takato asked him.

"Maybe." The blonde boy said hopefully.

"What do you have in mind?" Henry asked him.

"Well, if the beacon's connected to the real world, and I'm connected to the beacon, since it's in the digital world, maybe I can control it."

"That's not exactly the most solid reassurance, buddy." Takato said with a comforting smirk.

"I think it'll work." Cronus said quickly. "Back when I was looking around the digital world—I was really starting to get the hang of it. I can do this, Takato."

_That's all I need to hear._

Of course, Takato trusted Guilmon with his life. He had every reason to. While he wasn't exactly feeling 100 secure with Cronus's plan, Takato did trust him. He'd earned it.

"Alright." Takato said with a nod. He looked to Henry and Mala for support, not wanting to sign them up for something they were against, but each offered a nod of approval as well.

"So how do we get you out of there?" Mala asked Cronus.

"That depends." A female voice said from the stairwell.

The four turned to see Noria slowly come into view.

_Crap_.

"What do you want?" Takato asked bitterly. He was grateful that she'd bought them the time they needed to get to the beacon, but was obviously still resentful that she was responsible for getting Cronus where he was in the first place.

"I'm glad to see you too." She murmured sarcastically. She then turned her green eyes to Henry.

"Who's he?"

"My name's Henry." Henry said slowly, not sure of who Noria was. Takato had mentioned her to him when he was filling Henry in on everything that had happened, but he doubted that Henry knew that the girl in front of him was Noria.

"Where'd you come from?" Noria asked him, much less aggressively than she initially asked Takato.

"From the real world." He answered plainly. "Who're you?"

"My name's Noria." She answered. Takato saw Henry's facial expression change, but it only changed slightly, because Takato could tell Henry was trying not to _look_ surprised.

"What do you want?" Takato repeated himself, slightly louder and just as rudely.

"I want to know what's going on." She told him. It took Takato by surprise, too.

"_Now_ you want us to explain things to you?" Takato snarled.

"Takato," Mala interrupted him, stepping forward. "She got us the time we needed to get to the beacon."

Deciding that it wouldn't be of any risk to explain things to her at least a little bit, Takato spoke to her. "What do you want to know?"

She immediately turned her gaze towards Cronus, who was still in the cell, leaning against the back wall.

"Who are you, really?" Noria said to Cronus, turning the rest of her body towards him.

"Noria, it's me—"

"Takato called you something else, back in the forest, when you changed." She clarified. "What's your name?"

Cronus looked at Takato, then back to Noria.

"Guilmon."

"Guilmon?" she repeated slowly, learning the name. Cronus nodded.

"Why?" Cronus asked her.

"I was curious. You've been here for months without telling anyone a thing about yourself." Was her reply.

"I didn't _remember_ anything." Cronus said defensively. "When I changed? _That's_ when I got my memory back."

"Hmm…" Noria said contemplatively. Her next question was directed at Henry. "You said you came from the real world. What are you implying about this place?"

"This is the digital world." Henry explained. "What you saw Cronus turn into, was a digimon. They're _supposed_ to be here."

Noria stared at Henry for a moment before turning to Cronus, and then back to Henry. "And what about us? The village?"

Takato saw Henry pause as he thought of how to describe the situation to her. "Well, our leading theory is that the village is made up of digimon as well, who were made to look human. Just like Guilmon."

She looked indignant as soon as Henry implied she was a digital monster. At least, until Noria looked at Mala, and saw that it wasn't a joke.

"You really are from another world, aren't you?" Noria asked her. Noria didn't seem to have any memory of the real world at all. Which probably meant that she'd never been there—which meant that she was a digimon, too.

"Yes." Mala told her. "We're just trying to get back home."

Noria looked away from Mala, to Takato, then Henry, then Cronus. "You're really not trying to hurt us, are you?"

Cronus spoke very clearly to her. "Noria, I haven't done _anything_ to earn the way I've been treated here."

She stared straight at him, before walking towards him. "No, you haven't." With that, she unlocked the door, and with a push, it swung open.

--

Henry Wong looked on with a quiet curiosity as Noria opened the door for Cronus. Cronus stood up straight, but didn't move—didn't break away from Noria's gaze.

"Well?" she asked. "Do you want out of there or not?"

Cronus stepped towards the door of the cell, but slowed his pace as he approached it, suspicious of Noria's actions. It wasn't until he was completely out of it, and standing next to Takato that he put on a smile.

"What's the catch?" Takato asked suspiciously.

_He really doesn't like her_.

Fair enough, as far as Henry was concerned. Takato certainly had the right to be defensive of his partner.

Henry wasn't sure of what exactly had gone on between Noria and Mala—Takato hadn't mentioned much at all about Noria, other than that she was the one who told everyone about Guilmon.

"There's no catch, Takato." It wasn't Noria who said this, though—it was Cronus.

_He read her._

Takato must have realized it too, as he immediately replied with an "Alright." as soon as Cronus said it.

"You'll have to hurry." Noria warned. "The others still think that you're a threat."

"There's no chance of reasoning with them?" Mala asked her.

Noria shook her head. "I've already tried."

"I appreciate it." Cronus told her.

"Get out of the village." Noria ordered, ignoring him. "But don't let the others see you. I think they'll attack you if they do. Even you, Mala."

Henry looked to Takato, who nodded back to him and then headed up the stairs. Cronus thanked Noria, who once again ignored him, and then ran to catch up with Takato. Henry headed towards the stairs but waited for Mala.

"Thank you." Mala told Noria.

"I'm sorry about everything." Noria said quietly, looking down to the ground.

Mala smiled to her, walked up to her, and gave her a hug, which, after an awkward-looking moment, Noria returned.

"Take care of everyone for me." Mala said sincerely.

"I will. You be careful." Noria said with a smile.

"Count on it."

With a smile back, Mala headed up the stairs, and Henry followed behind her.

The paths around the village seemed empty, which Henry found somewhat ominous, but decided he shouldn't worry about it, as it didn't seem that Noria would have sent them outside if it was crowded.

"So we're heading off to the beacon, then?" Henry asked, trying to get someone to say something.

"Looks like." Takato affirmed. They walked quickly, and, fortunately, there was nobody around. They soon arrived at the fields outside of town, with the forest in the distance.

"What about the monsters?" Mala asked suddenly. "I know we've made it through twice without seeing any, but still…"

Henry wasn't sure what the 'monsters' were like in the forest—he wasn't worried about them, though—Takato had told him that Guilmon had killed at least two and come out of it with no more than a scratch or two. He knew Mala was right in being careful—they couldn't afford to make mistakes.

"Can you feel any?" Henry asked Cronus.

"No. There's none nearby. I'll feel them if they get close." Was Cronus's response.

_He's really getting used to all that power._

Henry was proud of him. Guilmon always had even more of an innocence to him than the other digital monsters—Henry had always welcomed it, as Guilmon always managed to find the hope that they so very needed in the bleak situations they so often found themselves in. But even now, Henry was glad to have Guilmon as he was—even though he looked different, he could tell that there was still that innocence inside of Cronus—that, and Cronus's being connected to everything was proving to be helpful.

It hadn't even been a day since Henry had arrived in the digital world. He'd come there not looking to help Takato, but to flee from the responsibilities that had been piled onto him back in the real world. But after spending just a few hours with his long-lost friend, his digimon-friend-turned-human-turned-powerhouse, and the cute brown-haired girl, he saw that life wasn't simple anywhere. When he got Takato and Mala back home, he'd go back to the real world, too.

Henry had really found himself attracted to Mala, even though he'd only known her for a few hours. It was from what Takato had told him of her—that she'd been so capable of surviving in a strange world by herself, and had managed to earn the respect and trust of an entire village—only to give it all up to do what was right—she was an extraordinary young woman.

They were a good ways into the forest, and very little had been said along the way. Henry wasn't sure how far in they were, exactly, as he had been paying more attention to Takato's story than the scenery on his only other trip through. Henry spoke softly, but tried to get some conversation out of her and Takato.

"Takato, what are you going to do when you get back?" Henry asked him. He was really curious. Everyone back in the real world thought Takato was dead—including Henry himself, until a few hours ago. Henry was glad of how happy Jeri would be to see him again.

"I'm not sure." He said softly. "Probably see my parents. And Jeri, and everyone else…"

Henry bit his tongue when he almost repeated that Ryo had left—none of them needed that on their minds at that time. "What about you?" he asked Mala.

"Hmm?" she mumbled, snapping back to reality. "Oh, sorry. I don't really know…the last time I saw my mom, it wasn't the most civil conversation, so I'm not sure where to go."

"I could go with you." He suggested sheepishly.

"Really?" Mala perked up a little.

"Yeah, if it'd help. I'm sure she'd be happy to see you."

"I really miss her. I can't believe it's only been a year."

"Only?" Henry asked curiously.

"It felt like longer." She replied quietly.

"Things'll be better when we get back. I promise you." Henry smiled flashed her his most reassuring smile.

"Deal." She smiled back at him. She suddenly perked up again. "You know what I really miss? Good food."

Henry laughed. "Well, there's a new restaurant on Ross Street, some friends of mine told me that when they were there—"

—Henry was suddenly cut short when Cronus let out a scream of pain, and fell backwards to the ground.

--

Noria had her arms crossed, and had rubbed her upper arms with her hands. She wasn't cold, but she was definitely nervous. It had been a half hour since she released Cronus from his cell, and she was presently still in the same room, looking at the cell's open door, wondering if she made a mistake.

Noria had never done anything that wasn't in the interests of the village. Even this, letting Cronus free, was in the village's best interests. Cronus had saved them, she knew that now. She knew that they'd treated him unfairly, and she was trying to right the wrongs that she'd participated in.

She regretted telling everyone of what she saw back in the forest, Cronus's transformation—but she knew that Cronus knew it was her duty to. She was looking out for her home.

It was all too soon before some of the villagers came to check on Cronus, and Noria inhaled sharply, and prepared to tell them that she had let him out.

"Noria? What's going on? Where's the monster?" one asked, indicating the cell.

"I let him out." She told them flatly.

"You what!" One snarled.

"I let him out." She repeated.

"Why would you—"

"Because he didn't do anything to us! Mala was right about him. I know that now."

"There are monsters that are killing our people. And you saw him yourself, you said he was a monster."

"He wasn't like one of them. He was different—"

"—You betrayed us!"

"No!" She yelled loudly. "Cronus _killed_ two of the monsters. Two. He made it that much safer out there for us."

"Noria, he can't be trusted. Does your loyalty lie with the village, or with him?" a man said to her, stepping out in front of the crowd.

"With you, of course." Noria said sweetly, trying to buy herself some more time to figure out where exactly it was that she stood.

But she saw that the man in front of her was reaching for a knife, she kicked him in the stomach, and ran around the group to the stairwell. She was maybe a quarter-way up before she was blocked from the front. She turned to go back, but was closely pinned in place. She went to plant a kick into the chest of the nearest person behind her, but he grabbed her foot, twisted, and tugged her off the stairs.

She fell for maybe two seconds before she hit her head hard on the dirt ground. Her head pulsed in pain, and her ankle was sprained at the very least. There were still a few villagers down there, and two pulled her up to a standing position.

The man stood in front of her.

"You've killed us all." He hissed at her.

"He didn't do anyth—"

—the knife he put through her chest felt like it was burning her, and she gasped in agony as the two holding her let go of her arms, and she fell to the ground. Noria died that day, not knowing if Mala and the others would make it away.

--

"Cronus!" Takato called to his friend. Cronus was on the ground, a look of shock on his face, and he was grabbing at his chest frantically. Takato managed to get his hands around Cronus's wrists, and Cronus was still gasping in shock when Takato got there.

"Cronus!" Takato repeated, trying to get Cronus to get ahold of himself. "What happened?"

In an instant, Takato saw his friend return to him, and he stopped fighting against him before indicating Takato to let go of him.

"We've gotta keep moving." Cronus said as he struggled to get up.

"What's wrong?" Mala asked worriedly. "Is it one of the monsters?

"They're coming." Cronus answered. "They're coming now."

_Shit_.

"What! Who is coming?" Takato asked in disbelief. "What did you see?"

He saw Cronus's face go pale. "Noria." He whispered.

"Did Noria give us up?" Takato asked frantically, but Cronus's head was already shaking before he finished the sentence.

Takato was too scared to ask Cronus what had happened to Noria, but he knew it was something bad.

"Let's keep moving." It was Henry to have broken the silence that followed Cronus's warning. Takato and Mala both nodded, and the four were on their way.

--

"It's too late." Cronus interrupted him.

Takato turned to him curiously, as did Mala and Henry.

"Cronus?" Takato asked his friend. "What are you talking about?"

"They're here." He said in a fearful whimper, turning back towards the trees behind them. A few seconds later, sure enough, emerged a mob of villagers demanding blood.

_Shit—_

"Run!" Takato ordered, and the four of them hurried to the beacon. There were less people in this mob than there were in the one that had captured Cronus, but there was still maybe two dozen of them—which was plenty more than four teenagers.

They moved quickly, though, and Takato forced himself to look back, and discovered that they were indeed outrunning the mob, but that it wouldn't last once they got to the beacon.

When they arrived at it shortly after, Mala was struggling to catch her breath, and Henry was looking worriedly around for the villagers to show up. Cronus put his hand on the metal pedestal, but nothing happened.

"Cronus?" Henry asked anxiously.

"It's encrypted." Cronus said, shocked.

"It's what!" Mala nearly cried.

"This wasn't made for me to send data out on when it's inactive. I can break the encryption, but—"

"How long will that take?" Takato interrupted him.

Cronus looked at each of them before he closed his eyes. Takato saw his lips move as he made the calculations, and took the opportunity to shoot a glance to Henry and Mala, who appeared just as terrified as Takato felt, and then looked back to see that the mob hadn't caught up yet.

"Cronus?" Mala asked pleadingly.

He opened his eyes. "One hundred fourteen minutes, twenty-six seconds."

Takato's heart sank, and Henry looked to Takato. "We can't hold them off for two hours."

Takato again looked back to the trees for anyone who could approach, but fortunately there was nobody.

"Why will it take so long?" Takato asked, trying to sound less scared than he was.

"Something's changed." Cronus tried to explain. "I still feel connected to everyone, but I can't—it feels like something else is accessing the digital world now, not just me."

"What do you mean?" Takato asked

"There's something very powerful nearby, and it's close."

Everyone exchanged glances, but nobody spoke until Cronus did. "I can't tell what it is." He said, defeated.

"So what's the plan?" Mala asked Takato desperately.

Takato had nothing. He'd been in this part of the digital world for months and he barely understood any of it. It had been even longer since he'd had to come up the battle strategies, and even still, he was being asked for orders by someone who was far more experienced than he in the world.

Henry gripped the wooden plank he had tightly with each of his hands, sending anxious looks to Takato and Cronus. Cronus was breathing heavier, and had his hands at the sides of his head, and Takato could see that Cronus was weakening again.

--

"Cronus! Can you fight?" Henry asked him.

_Too much noise—_

"I—I can't.." Cronus murmured as he stumbled backwards towards the block. There really _was_ too much noise for him to concentrate. He could barely keep his eyes open—it was all too much information for him to keep track of. Something had happened—he was still connected to the digital world, but there was something else accessing it. He wasn't the only one anymore. Mala and Henry had turned back to the advancing mob. Henry was a little bit in front of her, and Cronus knew that it was because he was developing feelings for her. Cronus was glad—he knew that if anyone could protect her, it would be him.

Takato, however, was still looking at Cronus—not with any expectation or disapproval, but apologetically. Cronus knew—without having to read his mind—that Takato was sorry that he had put Cronus in the situation. Cronus couldn't speak, though, as the waves of thoughts and data and feelings and emotions tore through him—it even felt ten times worse than it had when Noria was murdered. Cronus grit his teeth so that he wouldn't scream at the pain he felt, but he let out a whimper when Takato hurried over to him and held out his hand to give him something.

"This is yours Takato said clearly, before turning back to the fight. Cronus managed to get the D-Arc into his hand and clench his fingers around it before his arm dropped weakly to the ground. Henry had given the wooden plank to Mala to protect herself with, leaving himself and Takato both unarmed. Cronus closed his eyes and tried to change back to Guilmon, but he couldn't find the energy in himself.

The battle began before he could have expected it—it began with the crack of a wooden plank finding its way into the side of one of the villager's heads. Henry had managed to disarm what looked to be something similar to a wooden rake-handle, and had passed it to Takato, who swung it clumsily but powerfully into the villagers as they advanced.

_At least we've got the higher ground_.

They did, too. Whenever Takato, Henry, or Mala knocked someone down, they practically rolled part-way down the hill. Their weapons weren't damaging enough to knock any of them unconscious, however, and it became obvious that it would be the teenagers who were tiring quicker.

Of course, whenever a villager was struck, Cronus felt the pain, too, but couldn't bring himself to tell his friends. He just did his best to ignore the blows, closed his eyes, and worked on the decryption. He spent the first minute trying to block the second being's access to the digital world so that he could work quicker, but whatever it was had a strong hold on that location. Cronus reluctantly settled on decrypting it at a much lower rate than he knew he should be capable of.

Even as he tried to block the battle out, he could still tell what was happening. His friends were doing well, until several minutes later when a villager swung a thick metal rod at Mala, who tried to dodge it but took the blow into her arm. She screamed in pain, and even Cronus let out a grunt as he could feel her left arm break. Cronus wasn't sure if it was blood or sweat that he felt on his own head when Henry kicked the villager in the side of the head before ordering Mala to get back.

Takato was holding his own well—the range on his weapon allowed him to swing it without letting them get close to him. Cronus felt terror once again when he realized he still had over a hundred minutes of work left before he could decrypt the beacon, and Henry and Takato were the only ones standing—

—that is, until Henry was knocked in the face with the same metal rod that broke Mala's arm. Cronus could feel blood run down his face, but he couldn't tell if it was on Henry's, his own, or both. Henry spun as he fell, which was into Mala, who hadn't seen him get hit.

"No!" Takato called to his friends as he watched Henry fall on Mala.

Cronus wanted to warn Takato to pay attention back to the fight, but he couldn't find his own voice. Instead, what he found was the memory of what had happened to Mala's partner. Before he could question why he had recalled it, he realized why—because the same thing was going to happen to Takato.

"Takato!" Cronus called an instant before a knife—or rather, the blade of one—soared through the air and pierced his partner, in his chest, just above his heart. Cronus found the strength to touch his own shoulder, and could feel the wound in himself. In fact, he also saw that he bore the same wounds on his hands that Takato did—and he knew then that he had the same wounds as Henry and Mala, too, and most of the villagers', too. He touched his face with his hands—which was exceedingly painful since his left arm was as broken as Mala's—and wiped his face. When he removed his hands, they were covered in blood.

The mob seemed to have halted their assault as Takato stumbled backwards then fell to the ground. He was grunting in pain, and it was all Cronus could feel. He let go of the beacon, knowing that it didn't matter anymore. He crawled over to his partner as the mob of villagers surrounded him, Takato, and the unconscious Henry and Mala. Cronus looked up to the villagers long enough to realize that they were just watching, and he crawled over to Takato, leaving behind a messy trail of blood in the process.

"T—Takato?" he asked quietly with much effort.

"Guil—Guilmon I'm—I'm so sorry—"

Cronus could feel sorrow, but he knew it was his own. "No." he managed to get out. He wasn't going to let Takato die. Back in the real world, it would be about now when a blue card would appear, and fix everything. But nothing happened. They'd always appeared for Takato, and he always used them to take care of Guilmon. Cronus could feel the tears roll down his cheeks, mixing in with the dirt and blood, but Cronus knew that like the sorrow, they were his own.

_I'm what they want? Fine_._ They can have me_.

As he forced himself to stop crying and to stand up, he realized that it wasn't hard for him to—he'd blocked out the thoughts of the villagers.

Cronus found his control over his body again, and looked at his hands. It still hurt him to move his left arm, but at least he was able to without thinking about it. There were twenty-six people, forming a circle around himself, Takato, Mala, Henry, and the beacon. On the ground behind Cronus was the stick that Takato had.

He realized that he was still holding Takato's D-Arc.

_Mine?_

Cronus tucked it into his pocket, and as one of the members of the mob went to swing a rod similar to the one that had knocked out Henry and Mala, Cronus went into a backwards roll, snatched the wooden pole with his good arm, and threw it as hard as he could. It spun as it moved through the air, and Cronus braced to feel the pain himself.

But when the middle part of it hit the villager in the forehead, knocking him out cold, and Cronus didn't feel anything, he didn't slow down to be grateful, three more villagers charged at him. One swung a shovel, but Cronus grabbed it—leaving a bloody handprint—and as the villager struggled for control of it, Cronus kicked backwards, which pushed back the second villager, who was approaching from behind. He then kicked forward, and the first villager's hand came loose from the shovel, which he then swung into the side of the third villager.

Cronus was prepared to continue the fight, but he realized that none of the mob were attacking.

_They're waiting for more to show up_.

Cronus knew that the number of people in this mob was much less than the one that had captured him before. He didn't want to eliminate the possibility that more people would be coming. Most of the villagers had moved in front of him, albeit a good distance away. Cronus gripped the shovel tightly in his wet hand, but lowered it when he saw that they weren't advancing, but were almost stunned in fear.

If they had done this to him a week ago, he would have been devastated. Seeing them stare at him in horror, like he was some kind of monster. But that wasn't important anymore. Cronus knew who he was. He was Guilmon, and he knew where he belonged—at Takato's side. And he'd fight to protect his partner if it meant his own life.

Cronus looked to his right, where Takato sat, bleeding, watching weakly, . He knew that Takato would live if he was given the attention he needed. But he couldn't get all of his friends past two dozen people.

He wasn't sure what they were planning, though, and he was much less than comfortable, and he realized there was no harm in asking, so he just did.

"What do you want?" Cronus asked.

"You're a monster." Someone in the crowd said to him.

Cronus finally stopped caring what these people thought of him. He didn't have to worry anymore about whether or not he had friends who cared about him, because he knew he did. Even if he was a monster.

"Get over it." Cronus replied bitterly. "You people don't even know _what_ you are."

Cronus suddenly felt his headaches begin to return, and he thought it was because of the crowd.

_No, not now—_

—but he knew that it wasn't the crowd—it was the power that he had felt before.

And, right on queue, the most hideous monster Cronus had seen howled a piercing shriek, and charged out of the trees. It ran up the hill, and jumped to the top, causing various reactions from the mob. Cronus recognized the creature, but not from the digital world.

It shrieked again when it arrived at the top, and all of those who were standing—except Cronus—backed up some.

Cronus looked at the monster, unimpressed, as he realized where he'd seen it. "Yeah." he said sarcastically. "We heard that part. Anything else?"

"Tamers…" it hissed in a low tone.

Cronus cocked an eyebrow, and looked to Takato, who looked absolutely mortified. "You want him?" Cronus taunted it. "I dare you to even try."

--

Takato looked in horror at the figure from the nightmares that were his memories. The figure that had risked his friends' lives, and had very nearly taken so much from him.

"_Dr. Nonaka_." Takato thought grimly.

Takato painfully turned his head to Mala and Henry. Henry was still unconscious, and Mala was pushing her face out of the ground with her right arm. Takato had backed himself against the beacon, and was leaning his back against it.

"B—be caref—careful—" Takato managed to get out in a voice he could barely hear himself. The villagers themselves were horrified. A few readied their weapons, but most of them backed away. Takato himself tried to stand, but stumbled and fell back down.

_He's certainly doing better than I'd have expected_.

That is, if Takato had been expecting anything. He'd just assumed that Dr. Nonaka was killed when the building gave in. But it looks like it survived long enough to be pulled into the portal Takato came through.

Takato watched on in suspense as Cronus ran to Dr. Nonaka, and planted a foot in his grotesque excuse for a face before flipping and landing in a duck that dodged Dr. Nonaka's swinging arms that clapped where Cronus was a split second earlier. Takato shot a glance to the villagers, who stared on, with evident looks of either intrigue or shock. Cronus spent most of the fight dodging—jumping over, ducking under, leaning aside, while throwing in as many attacks of his own that fit.

Takato winced again as he tried to stand up to help, the sharp piece of metal in his chest reminding promptly reminding him that it was still there. He could feel blood running down his side, causing his shirt to stick to his skin. Takato saw one of the villagers move, and Takato wasn't sure why exactly it was, until he saw that it was to toss Cronus a knife. His partner grabbed it mid-air, and immediately incorporated it into his movements.

Cronus had hit Dr. Nonaka several times, but nothing seemed to be doing any permanent damage.

_Just like when we tried._

The only thing that began to incapacitate it was whatever Yamaki injected into it back in the real world. And the serum was the only thing that was supposed to kill it, and again, it wasn't where Takato needed it to be.

Cronus appeared even smaller than he really was with the monster towering over him. Takato had seen Cronus easily kill a creature that looked just as threatening as Dr. Nonaka, but Takato didn't feel right, knowing the damage Dr. Nonaka was capable of.

Takato looked once again at Henry and Mala, both of whom were beginning to come around. Takato saw Henry's eyes widen as he realized what it was that Cronus was fighting. Mala dizzily crawled over to Takato after seeing the blade in him, but Takato was preoccupied on the fight taking place in front of him. One of the few things he was grateful then was that the villagers—while they weren't exactly helping Guilmon—were at least not trying to attack him.

"Takato, are you—" Mala said, her right hand hovering over her left arm. She stared at the blade protruding from him, but Takato barely noticed it was there.

"It's going to kill us." Takato whispered audibly.

"Cronus won't let it." Mala reassured him, not even looking at the battle, but at his wound.

_No, he won't, will he?_

In the instant that Takato found hope in himself, he could see Cronus emitting red light from his pocket, the D-Arc that belonged to them clearly the source of it. Takato saw Cronus carefully back up before taking it out, and looking at it, and the effect of it on the monster. Cronus gave Takato a look and a reassuring smile before the light took over him completely, and once again returned to Guilmon.

Takato saw the villagers stare in awe, still not moving, only to make sure they didn't interfere with the battle. Takato hoped that Guilmon knew he may have to fight them when he beat Dr. Nonaka—they could just be waiting to fight the winner.

_He'll win._

With the thought, Guilmon too began to emit a light, but this one wasn't red, it was white—and Takato actually smiled when he saw his partner digivolve to WarGrowlmon. This entire time, the monster that was Dr. Nonaka had stared on, and only advanced a small bit.

WarGrowlmon leapt forward and sliced at the side of the monster's head, before immediately changing back to Cronus in a flash of red light, who used the monster's face as a base, and kicked away from it. As Cronus landed on the ground, he once again transformed back to WarGrowlmon, and jumped over the monster, slicing at its head as he passed over it. Takato could tell that WarGrowlmon had landed on the monster's back, and the light that appeared told Takato that he had changed back to Cronus. From Takato's perspective, all he could see was Cronus's fist appear in the monster's face—and when it fell down, Takato could see that Cronus's arm was through its head.

_He did it_—

"It's over—" Henry murmured as he stumbled over to them, his hand on the side of his head.

_World's still here._

"Cronus…?" Mala said as she stared in awe at the sight of Cronus pulling his arm back out of the monster.

Cronus didn't turn to his friends, though—he was staring at something else—

—and Takato realized that the monster was dying the way things in the digital world _should_ die.

—and the body changed into a cloud of data that formed a ring that circled the hill.

The villagers stared on in awe, as did Cronus.

"Cronus?" Takato found the strength to say.

"That's it—that's the data we need." Cronus said.

_The data we need…?_

Takato mentally slapped himself when he realized that Cronus was talking about. Valn had been the one to change the digimon into humans. So they'd be comparatively helpless. Cronus could see enough useful data in the monster's remains to reverse what Valn had done.

Cronus closed his eyes, and held up their D-Arc, which the ring of data spiraled into.

"We should be able to reverse what Valn did once we get back to Hypnos." Henry said with more clarity than before.

Cronus suddenly hurried over to Takato and inspected the wound in his chest.

"Let's see if this works both ways…" Cronus said quietly, holding out the D-Arc, which, as they'd hoped, shone red light that caused the blade, and Takato's wound, to disappear. He did the same for Mala's arm, and Henry's head, to their great relief.

The four stood and stared at the villagers, and awaited their move—they could have attacked sooner, but they didn't.

"Please leave here." Mala ordered with more authority than Takato had heard from her before.

They actually obeyed her, though they were staring at Cronus the entire time.

_Whatever_.

--

Mala waited anxiously for Cronus to finish decrypting the beacon. He was working faster than he had before—it must have been that monster that was accessing the digital world. Mala wasn't scared of it, for some reason. She hadn't seen Cronus ever fight before, let alone change into a powerful warrior—Takato, on the other hand, actually seemed to recognize the monster that Cronus had fought. Mala supposed it didn't matter, however. It was over.

"Okay." Cronus said finally. "The portal's good to go whenever."

"There's one thing…" Henry said suddenly.

Mala turned to him, as did Takato and Cronus.

She wasn't sure if she really wanted to hear what this final addendum was—she felt as if they'd all given up enough lately.

"If we go back to the real world, I'm not sure what will happen to Guilmon."

Mala looked to the blonde boy.

_What will _happen

"I'm not sure what you mean." Takato said.

"Guilmon was turned human because of something Valn did to the area." Henry started. "And he can change back because of your digivice, and his capability to access the digital world so freely."

Henry looked at them all as if they should have understood what he was getting at, but only Cronus seemed to understand. After Mala shared a confused look with Takato, Henry went on.

"If we cure the digital world, he'll be changed back to Guilmon, permanently. That is, the old Guilmon—he won't have access to all the power he does once all the other digimon change back. But if he comes through the portal with us, he might not ever be able to change back to Guilmon, and he'll—in all likelihood, be human. For good."

Henry then looked to Cronus. "You're going to have to make a choice. And I'm really sorry, for not bringing this up sooner, I just didn't think it was the best time—"

"It's okay." Cronus said quietly, looking to the ground, obviously thinking it over. Mala wished that Cronus would return to the real world, but she said nothing so that he could make his own choice. He'd taken care of her in the months that he was present, and as far as Mala was concerned, he was a brother to her. And family was something she didn't have enough of.

She watched as Cronus looked at Takato. "Back before you—before we knew that I was Guilmon…" Cronus began. "You offered me a place to live…"

"The offer's still there." Takato said with a friendly smile.

Cronus nodded, and he too, smiled the innocent smile that once had forced Mala to feel compelled to protect him.

"Okay, then." He said with a deep exhale. "I want to go with Takato. I'll be human."

"Are you sure?" Henry asked, making sure that he knew what he was doing.

"Yeah." Cronus replied. "I'm sure."

--

The four arrived at the Hypnos building, and for a moment, they were all silent. It was the only time that Takato didn't mind the transition between the digital and real worlds. It was the middle of the day there, but nobody was in the lab—Henry explained that he was the only one who ever used it.

"So what are you guys gonna do?" Henry asked casually.

"I should probably let the parents know that there'll be someone living with us." Takato said, looking at Cronus. "And I should probably let them know that _I'll_ be living with us."

"Yeah, I'd recommend that." Cronus said with a grin. "What about you, Mala?"

"I think I'm ready to see my mom—Henry, you can still come if you still want to…" She trailed off at the end, and Takato hid the grin as he thought of Henry getting a girlfriend.

"We'll meet up later, then?" Takato asked Henry and Mala.

"Sounds good." Henry nodded.

Takato left the Hypnos building with Cronus, and headed to the bakery.

"I'm gonna have to get used to this." Cronus said suddenly.

"What's that?" Takato asked

"People not staring at me." Cronus answered, looking at all the people on the streets who paid no attention to him. Takato laughed, which forced Cronus to defend his statement. "Hey, if you were either a dinosaur or a suspected monster, you'd be new to this whole laying-low thing too."

Again, Takato laughed, until the two arrived at the Bakery. Although the laughter left, his smile didn't, and he pushed the door open.

"Welcome to M—" his dad said, before looking up, and staring. "Takato…"

Takato ran over and threw his arms around his father. "I'm okay. I'm home now."

"Oh Takato thank God, we thought you'd been—"

"I know, I'm sorry, but I'm back now, for good—where's mom?"

He ran upstairs at his father's indication, and shared a similar reunion with her. It was several minutes before either of them seemed to notice Cronus.

"I'm so sorry, but what's your name? Was it you who brought our son back?" Takato's dad asked Cronus, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"My name's Cronus." The boy answered. "It's nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Matsuda."

"Again? I'm sorry, have we met?" Takato's father was, obviously, confused.

Takato grinned at Cronus. "Mom, Dad, this is Guilmon."

"Guilmon!" Takato's dad asked. "Guilmon!" Takato wasn't actually surprised on how quickly they accepted it—in retrospect, they had learned to accept seemingly impossible things, with the life Takato had lived.

Takato spent a few hours with his family. He told them of everything that had happened, why he was gone so long, and how Cronus had saved his life, over and over. They gladly welcomed Cronus into their home, for which Cronus was grateful. It was some time before Takato set off to find Jeri. Cronus stayed behind, as had Takato's parents, even though they offered him a ride.

Takato spent another forty minutes outside of her home, trying to think of what he'd say to her. Eventually, he threw caution to the wind, and knocked on the door, breathing deeply.

"Yes?" Jeri's step-mother said, as she answered the door. She never _did_ remember Takato.

"Is Jeri home?" he asked, trying to sound as normal as possible.

"Yes, just a moment." She closed the door, though not completely. "_Jeri!_ There's someone at the door for you!"

_Here we go_.

Takato could see part of Jeri through the crack at the side of the door, and was probably as stunned as she was when she opened the door all the way.

"Hi." He squeaked.

Jeri'd grown her hair a little longer and had it styled so it was wavy—Takato couldn't really describe it—but she looked absolutely beautiful. Although, at the time, she looked more shocked, as her eyes widened, and she took a half-step backwards.

"Takato…?" she whispered.

"Yeah." Takato said more confidently, stepping forward, and giving in to his irresistible urge to hug her. She seemed reluctant, but she eventually put her arms around him, too.

"Is it really you?" Jeri asked quietly into his shoulder. Takato could tell that she was crying, and he could feel his own eyes start to water.

"Yeah, it's me." He squeezed her tighter. Takato thought about just how long it had been—and just how much he'd missed Jeri in that time. But he let himself feel happy, knowing he deserved it. It was over. The monster was finally dead. Valn wouldn't be hurting any of them anymore. They even managed to save the digital world—at least part of it. Takato Matsuda stood there, his arms wrapped around the love of his life. He smiled, knowing that he was finally home, with nothing pulling him elsewhere.

--

Well, thanks for reading, I probably had the most fun writing this story of the three. Anyways, as far as the Crescendo sequel goes—I've got the first two chapters plotted out, and it looks like it'll take place a few weeks after where this story leaves off, rather than six months after Crescendo ended. Thank you _very_ much for reading this far, it means a lot.

I was initially not planning on having this story finished until after the 18th, when I'm off school. Ah, well—this was a very enjoyable break from the studying.

Please review if you enjoyed it at all!

-N


End file.
